Logic Model Elements

Community & Family Partnerships

Backbone Coalition

The STEAM Center is a partnership between New York City Public Schools and Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC). New York City Public Schools operates and employs staff for the center, while BNYDC serves as the landlord and provides access to a network of 400+ companies. The Steering Committee, comprising members from both organizations, acts as the STEAM Center’s governing board. The partnership is formalized through the lease agreement and a separate MOU that outlines the collaborative efforts.

Industry Advisory Council

BNYDC is the primary industry partner of the STEAM Center and coordinates the STEAM Center Advisory Council. This council consists of advisors from businesses within and outside the Navy Yard, as well as higher education institutions. They provide insights, inspiration, and workplace learning experiences for each of STEAM’s pathways. The Advisory Council assists with job requirements, project collaboration, and facilitates scholar visits to relevant workplaces. They advise on certifications, programming languages, workplace expectations, and professional skills such as feedback and workspace etiquette. They advise on questions such as:

Certifications: They provide recommendations on the certifications that scholars should pursue to enhance their expertise in their respective fields.
Programming Languages, Technologies, and Tools: The Council suggests which programming languages, technologies, and tools scholars should be exposed to, ensuring they acquire relevant and up-to-date skills.
Workplace Expectations: Scholars receive guidance on understanding the expectations of different workplaces, helping them adapt and thrive in varied professional environments.
Professional Skills: The Advisory Council assists scholars in developing essential professional skills, such as giving and receiving feedback effectively and understanding proper workspace etiquette, including how to use and leave their workspace appropriately.

Advisory Council members are dedicated to attending meetings, participating in workplace learning, hosting interns, and completing an annual industry survey. Their drive for Pathway Reviews generates crucial feedback to ensure industry relevance of the coursework. This enables the STEAM Center to remain agile, well-connected, and adaptable to labor force changes.

Post-Secondary Relationships

The STEAM Center prepares scholars for career and college pathways beyond high school through its partnerships with various colleges and training institutions. These partnerships offer scholars the opportunity to continue their studies in their chosen pathway. Some examples of these relationships include:

Granting STEAM Center scholars credit for their completed pathway courses and credentials
Advisory Council membership so post-secondary partners can ensure that scholars’ STEAM Center work effectively prepares them for college-level work
STEAM Center scholars can apply for learn/earn partnerships beyond high school, like the Hudson Valley Community College and Simmons Machine Tool Corporation partnership. Simmons grants up to 3 scholars per year a full scholarship for the advanced manufacturing program at Hudson Valley Community College. Scholars also have the opportunity to work at Simmons during the summers and after graduation.

Schedule & Facilities

Shared Instructional Model & Schedule

The STEAM Center creates career and financial pathways for underprivileged scholars by enrolling students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Scholar recruitment begins at High School Fairs through New York City Public Schools where STEAM staff members pitch the model to 8th graders and their families, encouraging enrollment in partner high schools. The school maintains contact with interested families for two years before enrollment, hosting Open Houses to expose scholars to pathway options.

The STEAM Center collaborates with eight partner high schools to support scholars throughout their 9th and 10th grade years. Partner school leaders and guidance counselors play a key role in:

Accelerating credit-earning in 9th and 10th grades, including potential Summer Bridge programs, to ensure scholars are on-track for graduation and can fit STEAM into their schedules.
Encouraging completion of a standardized STEAM application in 10th grade with a focus on equity.
Collaborating with the STEAM Center to recruit middle school scholars who would benefit from STEAM and enroll them in partner schools.
Providing opportunities for potential STEAM scholars to attend STEAM tours in their 10th grade year.

During their 11th and 12th grade years, STEAM scholars split their time between their home high school and the STEAM Center, with a half-day at each:

Seniors attend STEAM from 8:30 – 11 a.m.
Buses transport Seniors from STEAM to their home high schools at 11 a.m. and then pick up Juniors from those schools to bring them to STEAM.
Juniors attend STEAM from 12:30 – 3 p.m.

Scholars at the STEAM Center usually have a single class for the entire 2.5-hour block, except for one day a week during Senior year when they have Post-Secondary Planning (PSP) instead of their pathway course. This model maximizes their competitive advantage in the learning environment. The partnership between the STEAM Center and partner schools is solidified through an MOU, with the eight partner high schools committed to:

Offering traditional coursework, graduation requirements
Scheduling classes to accommodate juniors and seniors’ time at the STEAM Center

The STEAM Center commits to:

Design and deliver the highest quality career and technical education program available
Build the infrastructure needed for engaging, authentic workplace learning
Establish and maintain industry partnerships

The STEAM Center and partner schools convene every other month for a STEAM Center meeting. The meeting is overseen by the superintendent who oversees the STEAM Center.

Facilities

At STEAM the work environment is the classroom. Not the other way around. The STEAM Center is immersed within a 400+industry ecosystem, putting scholars in daily contact with industry professionals and making it near instant for an industry partner to pop into the STEAM Center to give feedback on a project, and for a STEAM Center scholar to go to an internship after school.

The 30,000 square foot environment of the STEAM Center itself mirrors each pathway’s real world work environment. The spaces were designed with industry engagement including defining the space specifications, reviewing architectural plans, and selecting equipment.The result is a learning environment industry professionals regularly ask to borrow for their own work.

STEAM “classrooms” include…

Full sound stage, control room, editing booth, and screening room
Fabrication lab
Construction workshop
Professional-grade kitchen

Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment

Pathway Curricula

STEAM’s curriculum is carefully crafted to replicate real-world work experiences. Developed over years, it features a progressive series of projects that mimic industry practices. The curricula for all 5 pathways include:

Align to industry relevant skills and credentials
Include industry-grounded projects
Foster the development of both professional and technical skills
Involve industry professionals coming into the classroom, and scholars going into industry environments
Leverage the STEAM Center’s unique environment of classrooms and work spaces that have been modeled off of real industry specifications

Twice a year, scholars present their projects at the Scholar Showcase, attended by industry professionals, higher education partners, and the public. This event serves several purposes: Advisory Council members provide immediate feedback for curriculum planning, scholars showcase their achievements and individuality, and through project completion, scholars acquire the technical skills for earning at least one industry credential annually.

State-Approved Program Design

The Brooklyn STEAM Center is a unique career and technical education program in NYC that attracts scholars from multiple high schools. It offers an alternative graduation path, known as the “4+1” option, where STEAM scholars can graduate with four Regents exams and the completion of their STEAM course, including an industry credential. They can also earn the CDOS endorsement on their diploma. The “4+1” option not only enables scholars to graduate but also provides an incentive for partner schools, as their evaluation receives additional points for scholars achieving this diploma.

Instruction

Scholars develop technical and professional skills through industry-focused projects. Each project is associated with specific professional skills that scholars will acquire and apply. These projects revolve around thought-provoking Essential Questions (EQs) that ignite curiosity and drive learning. These EQs:

Align with industry-related knowledge and skills
Demand mastery of new content and original thinking
Offer open-ended possibilities with multiple solutions or paths
Encourage scholars to utilize industry tools, techniques, and technologies

Scholars tackle essential concepts by breaking them down into daily topics during the project. Daily lessons follow a mini-lesson format, providing a clear model from the teacher for new skills. This allows scholars to spend most of their time practicing and applying the content independently, through hands-on activities, to their project. The Instructional Look Fors document defines the characteristics of excellent STEAM classrooms.

Adults Roles, Hiring & Development

Work-Based Learning Infrastructure

Work based learning is coordinated across the STEAM Center and Brooklyn Navy Yard teams.

The STEAM Center’s work-based learning coordinator collaborates with pathway teachers to identify scholars for internships, track their work-based learning opportunities, and manage internships outside of the Navy Yard.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Director and Internship Coordinator work with the WBL coordinator and pathway teachers to plan WBL activities on the Yard, place scholars in internship opportunities, and organize showcases for industry professionals to provide feedback on scholar work.

Internship sites are evaluated to ensure support for scholar success, and interns provide feedback after their experience. Processes are in place to prepare industry professionals and scholars for successful engagement, managed by the Brooklyn Navy Yard and STEAM team.

Teaching Staff

Imagine a filmmaker and a sound engineer teaching side by side. Or a coder and an IT specialist instructing alongside one another. STEAM pairs industry experts with experienced educators, turning them into full-time teachers. Each pathway in STEAM is supported by at least two qualified teachers who are New York City Public Schools employees with a blend of industry and teaching experience. This collaboration allows for a rich learning environment that combines industry expertise with education knowledge.

Rigorous project-based learning
A balance of industry and education expertise
A broader range of expertise within each career pathway

STEAM recruits industry professionals into teaching through Transitional A Certification and Success Via Apprenticeship Program. Adjunct teachers are also hired from the industry for specific units or part-time roles, with potential for full-time positions.

Weekly PD sessions led by STEAM leaders and coaches to enhance teaching skills and instructional impact
Teachers receive ongoing support to stay current in their fields, collaborating with industry professionals through the Advisory Council and incorporating new industry content into their courses. Collaboration with local college programs and hosting interns provides additional classroom support. Brooklyn STEAM classrooms follow a co-teacher model.

Operations

Technology & Tech Infrastructure

STEAM classrooms have industry-grade equipment, including 3D printers, fabrication tools, and a green screen and sound stage. The design of the space was influenced by the Industry Advisory Council. Each classroom also has laptops for various activities such as building digital portfolios and updating Employability Skills Profiles. In Film & Media, specific software like Adobe is used for sound mixing. Access to New York City Public Schools tech infrastructure is crucial for functions like attendance tracking and sharing scholar data.

Budget

STEAM gets its NYCDOE funding through a tax levy funded School Allocation Memorandum (SAM) rather than receiving per-pupil funding. It supplements this funding with money through grants and other fundraising. STEAM is in the process of working with the state to identify a funding model that will create more sustainable revenue for the program.

Communication

Regular communication between the STEAM Center and partner high schools is vital for scholar support. This involves guidance counselor outreach and monthly principal’s meetings to discuss scholar outcomes, logistics, admissions, and retention. STEAM uses newsletters, website, and Instagram for updates to the school community, and has a dedicated support staff for family outreach.

Continuous Learning & Improvement

STEAM collects unique data on scholars’ industry certifications, workplace performance, and social capital to support its Grad Aims. The school utilizes new tools and data collection processes for this purpose. Additionally, STEAM engages in strategic pilot projects for continuous improvement and innovation, using them as opportunities for research and development.