National Partners
National Governors Association
The National Governors Association (NGA)—the bipartisan organization of the nation’s governors—promotes visionary state leadership, shares best practices and speaks with a unified voice on national policy. Founded in 1908, the National Governors Association is the collective voice of the nation’s governors and one of Washington, D.C.’s most respected public policy organizations. Its members are the governors of the 50 states, three territories and two commonwealths. NGA provides governors and their senior staff members with services that range from representing states on Capitol Hill and before the administration on key federal issues to developing and implementing innovative solutions to public policy challenges through the NGA Center for Best Practices. NGA also provides management and technical assistance to both new and incumbent governors.
The Council of State Governments-WEST (CSG-WEST) provides a nonpartisan platform for regional cooperation among the legislatures of the West, creating opportunities for legislators and staff to share ideas and experiences as well as institutional linkages with other elected political leaders throughout the region. The CSG-WEST legislative membership of 13 western states benefits from its associate memberships with the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia and the Pacific islands of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, and benefits from its collaborative partnerships with the border states of Mexico. CSG-WEST programs and meetings are open to all legislators, staff, private sector and the public upon payment of required registration fees which off-set select direct costs for the meeting. This includes CSG-WEST Committee meetings; however, votes on policy, organizational and issues are limited to western state legislators appointed by their respective chamber’s appointing authorities.
NC STEM Community Collaborative
The North Carolina STEM Community Collaborative, funded through generous support of MCNC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and community partners, recognizes that community collaboration is the lever to ensure sustainable innovation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. It builds the capacity of local communities to create innovative and sustainable educational programs that are characterized by individualization, quality and scalability. NC STEM supports successful 21st century teaching and learning in North Carolina, and recognizes the importance of engaging students in digital-age learning, preparing students to be ready to enter the workforce. Through designed collaboration, NC STEM partners closely with “ready to launch” and “emerging” communities throughout North Carolina to ensure all students have the opportunity to engage in rigorous, sustainable STEM education that provides them with good choices in life and bolsters the economic strength of their communities.
The Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN) is an unprecedented collaborative aimed at building and connecting STEM teaching and learning capacity in regions across Ohio. At its core, the OSLN is focused on student and teacher success, built from a slate of committed partners from Pre-K-12 education, higher education and business and industry. Designed from a systems engineering approach, the OSLN will help develop and connect a statewide system of innovative STEM schools and Programs of Excellence, leveraging the ongoing work of regions across the state, along with a $12 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and an initial $2.8 million investment from Battelle. This will be done through a state-level, public-private partnership that includes Battelle, Ohio Partnership for Continued Learning, Ohio Business Roundtable, Ohio Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy, Cleveland Foundation, and the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES). Locally, many partners across the state are involved in this work.
Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES)
Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM education (TIES) is the country’s foremost innovator bringing STEM School design, STEM curriculum, and STEM instructional support to schools, districts, states and the federal government. TIES design teams work to create and build the finest STEM schools throughout the country. TIES recognizes the importance of school design and STEM professional development for all teachers as the basis to improve and advance the character of science, technology, engineering and mathematics teaching for students regardless of grade level. TIES understands the need to shift the teaching of STEM education to focus less on fragmented and isolated bits of discrete information and more on scientific understanding and reasoning. STEM education is trans-disciplinary in nature offering students the ability to use project-based learning to address real-world issues that affect their family, their community and their world. TIES currently works with regional and state economic development organizations to fuel STEM education curriculum and instructional program development. Our students are digital natives and TIES works to ensure that the “Technology and Engineering” in STEM drive the relevance of the “Science and Mathematics.” STEM education is an equity issue. TIES works with all students in all kinds of communities to ensure they are prepared for post-secondary options, especially those that lead to STEM fields and STEM teaching. Finally, the TIES team consists of the most successful STEM principals in our nation, business leaders who have worked hard to design and implement STEM pipelines in their own economic cluster, and engineers and scientists who have turned their focus from their own research to the problems that face our nation’s youngsters. Together, TIES leads STEM education design and innovation for our nation.