Vernon Township High School adopts 'Project Lead the Way'

VERNON — Vernon Township High School announced that it has adopted Project Lead The Way (PLTW) and will begin offering courses in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) at the beginning of the 2013-14 school year.

PLTW is the nation’s leading provider of STEM curricula to middle and high schools with more than 5,200 programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Vernon Township High School will offer PLTW’s Pathway To Engineering program, a high school engineering program that prepares students for post-secondary success in engineering and technology. The Pathway To Engineering (PTE) curriculum includes eight courses.

Schools may choose to offer anywhere from two courses to the full eight-course curriculum. Throughout PTE, students learn and apply the design process, acquire strong teamwork and communication proficiencies, and develop organizational, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills. Students apply the concepts they are learning in math and science in order to find solutions to real-world problems.

“PLTW has a long history of successfully engaging students in STEM subjects,” said Timothy Dunnigan, principal of Vernon Township High School. “Vernon Township High School is proud to offer PLTW to our students, giving them an advantage over their peers when it comes to high school, college and career readiness. We believe our community will also see the benefits of PLTW as the pool of highly-skilled workers for local businesses increases.”

In addition to providing STEM curricula to middle and high schools, PLTW provides ongoing, professional development training for middle and high school teachers so they can effectively implement and teach the hands-on, project-based curriculum.

PLTW schools also benefit from the organization’s engaged network of Fortune 500 companies, state leaders, and university affiliations, which provide students opportunities for college credit, scholarships and admissions preferences. School-based PLTW Partnership Teams complement the curriculum by recruiting local business and industry professionals to serve as mentors and share their real-world experiences with students.

“In today’s global economy, Americans are competing not just against each other but against their peers in countries like China and India,” said Vince Bertram, CEO of PLTW. “It is more critical now than ever for our education system to help students develop the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills to prepare them for the global economy.”

For more information, visit www.pltw.org.