CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Iowa Governor’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Advisory Council has awarded 19 new STEM BEST® (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers) Partnerships across Iowa. Among them in the Southwest STEM Division, is the Atlantic and IKM-Manning Community School Districts, and the Southwest Valley Middle in Villisca.

The STEM Council’s executive committee voted unanimously last Thursday to award and support 19 of 31 proposed partnerships that each bring to the table a dollar-for-dollar cost sharing commitment and, in some instances, well beyond their fifty percent cost sharing commitment. The Council’s STEM BEST grants themselves derive from a pool of funds that represent both public and private investments in STEM. Funds are to be used for equipping modern collaborative workspaces and training educators in workplace-classroom integration.

STEM BEST Partners transform typical K-12 classroom environments and methods to unite the workplace with the classroom and develop clear pathways from STEM education to STEM careers in the state. From 2014 through 2016, the STEM Council established eighteen STEM BEST Partnerships that exemplify school-business partnerships uniting what is taught and learned in K-12 mathematics, science, technology and engineering classes with what skills, knowledge and behaviors are going to be needed at work.

Gov. Kim Reynolds, co-chair of the STEM Council, said “Iowa companies must be able to hire enough skilled workers so they can grow and innovate, and more Iowans deserve to have the skills needed for rewarding careers. Through STEM BEST, educators and business leaders work together with students to strengthen Iowa’s talent pipeline and close the skills gap. STEM BEST is one of many programs that promise to help reach our Future Ready Iowa goal of 70 percent of Iowa’s workforce having education or training beyond high school by 2025.”

Each selected program submitted an in-depth proposal, considering factors like education driven by industry need, rigorous, relevant and dynamic STEM curriculum and authentic partnerships. These models bring various strengths in community partnerships, district demographics and program focus and will serve as models for others around the state. To learn more about the model and the current eighteen STEM BEST partners, visit www.IowaSTEM.gov/STEMBEST.