Prairie Grove District Named ‘Project Lead The Way’ School

PRAIRIE GROVE — The Prairie Grove School District will use a $94,000 grant to implement a pre-engineering program at the high school.

Prairie Grove has been selected as a Project Lead the Way school, a program that provides funds for districts to add engineering or biomedical science classes to their curriculum.

Project Lead the Way is one of several programs that fall under the state's STEM Works Initiative designed to better educate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Gov. Mike Beebe announced the STEM Works Initiative in August.

Prairie Grove High Principal Ron Bond said the district applied for a STEM Works grant and was excited to receive the news last week that it was selected to participate in Project Lead the Way.

“We're in the very beginning stages of this,” Bond said Friday. “We're not sure of the next step.”

Prairie Grove already participates in the Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Science (AAIMS) and Project Lead the Way will allow the school to continue to emphasize the math and science areas, Bond said.

The AAIMS program rewards students with cash prizes for a passing grade on their math, literacy and science Advanced Placement tests. The goal of the program is to increase the number of engineers and scientists in the United States.

“As the STEM Works Initiative goes in, it will piggyback with what we are doing with AAIMS,” Bond said. “Students who come out of these programs will be college ready.”

Bond said the bulk of the grant will be used to purchase equipment to implement Project Lead the Way.

The program is “equipment intense,” Bonds said, adding the school would start small and build on the program. Initially, the district does not plan to hire new teachers for the pre-engineering courses.

Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell announced the first 16 schools to participate in the STEM Works Initiative last week in Little Rock. The schools were selected by the Governor's Workforce Taskforce and include 15 school districts and one technical center.

The STEM Works Initiative includes three programs: Project Lead the Way, New Tech High Schools and REAL School.

Project Lead the Way is the leading provider of rigorous and innovative science, technology, engineering and mathematics education programs used in middle and high schools across the country, according to the Project Lead the Way website. The courses engage students through hands-on, project-based learning.

Bond said Prairie Grove also is interested in the REAL school curriculum, which stands for Relevant Education for Active Learning. REAL School is an extension of EAST Lab into a school's academic areas.

“A lot of this is based on projects based learning and hands-on activities. The kids are actively involved and engaged in the classroom,” Bond said.

Gravette also was named a Project Lead the Way school and the Lincoln School District was named a New Tech High School last year.