Elizabethtown College was one of just 42 institutions across the state to be named a recipient of the 2021-22 Pennsylvania Department of Education’s PAsmart Advancing Computer Science and STEM Education Grant to improve access to science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science education.

Etown was awarded $499,147 for its project, “Future Ready: Computer Science and STEM Education for All Collaborative,” which aims to help address the need for highly-qualified Computer Science (CS) professionals to fill anticipated employment vacancies at the local, regional, and state levels by increasing the number of teachers that are representative of the Pennsylvania population. It will also strengthen CS and STEM learning opportunities. 

“We’re excited at Etown to be leaders in the regional effort to grow and diversify our engineering and technology workforce by bringing together our nationally recognized expertise with Pennsylvania’s K12 students and teachers,” Dean of the School of Engineering, Math, and Computer Science Sara Atwood said.

Partners include regional school districts with high numbers of students from underserved communities and organizations and companies involved with workforce development and offering STEM-related jobs.

“High-quality computer science education is needed at the PK-12 level to provide a robust and diverse pipeline to post-secondary computer science careers to meet the growing Computer Science career field,” Education Program Director and Associate Professor of PK-12 STEM Education Peter Licona said. “Much like other disciplines falling under the STEM umbrella, Computer Science suffers from the same challenges of access, relevance, and underserved populations and communities. Through this grant, we seek to improve PK-12 Computer Science education and address these challenges.”

The Future-Ready collaboration is built upon longstanding partnerships at Etown and will expand on several existing resources and initiatives already in place at the College, including:

  • Providing tuition waivers for teachers to enroll in the four-course, 12-credit teaching CS program offered by the College’s School of Graduate and Professional Studies (SGPS) to help prepare them for the Praxis Computer Science assessment.
  • Implementing an on-campus, summer retreat that will provide teachers with CS experiential learning activities, professional development on supporting the inclusion of all learners in CS, as well as a field-based experience with a CS professional. 
  • Enhancing the access of underrepresented middle and high school students to high-quality CS and STEM learning opportunities through the College’s Science in Motion (SIM) program.
  • Increasing the participation of historically underrepresented students in STEM through the existing Etown Engineering Summer Academy by expanding scholarships for first-generation, or underrepresented students.

“Our CS graduate program is one of the first in the state to help more secondary teachers become certified to educate students in in-demand skills in Computer Science,” Atwood explained. “This grant allows teachers from underserved schools to obtain the CS certificate while also developing classroom practices that are trauma-informed and inclusive, and providing programming addressing teacher burn-out.”

Etown’s School of Engineering, Math, and Computer Science is viewed as a national leader in inclusive excellence and was honored by the American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEE) Diversity Recognition Program as one of just nine institutions awarded Bronze-level status for the 2022-2024 cycle.

About the 2021-22 PAsmart Advancing Grants
PAsmart Advancing Grants expand access to CS/STEM education and promote inclusion through learning experiences such as integrative CS/STEM experiences, standalone CS/STEM courses, out-of-school learning, dual enrollment, industry credentials, work-based learning, internships, and apprenticeships, while also expanding and diversifying the number of CS/STEM educators at all education levels.