Egypt STEM School Project (ESSP)

September 2012

The ESSP is a four year (2012-2016) $25 million cooperative agreement funded by USAID and implemented in Egypt with three US STEM Partners: 21PSTEM, TIES and The Franklin Institute. The project goal is to design five Model STEM High Schools for the Ministry of Education that will serve as models for educational transformation throughout Egypt. Currently two STEM Schools have been established, one for boys and the other for girls. Already many students from these two schools have received numerous international awards.

21PSTEM’s role in the project is the development of a new, projected-based, integrated STEM curriculum backward-designed based on Egypt’s Grand Challenges. 21PSTEM is also responsible for designing a new proficiency-based assessment system which includes newly designed multiple measures of college readiness. The PARLO approach and the Tracker software is setup for each school.

21PSTEM Project Director: Mr. F. Joseph Merlino

Assessment/Curriculum: Dr. John Baker
Operations: Ms. Nancy Burns
Assessment/Curriculum: Ms. Donna Cleland,
Leadership Development: Dr. Gary Cooper
PARLO Tracker: Ms. Deanna Daugherty
Assessment/Curriculum: Dr. Steve Kramer
Assessment/Curriculum: Ms. Vivian Loewenstern
Assessment/Curriculum: Mr. Bates Mandel
Director of Curriculum: Dr. Deborah Pomeroy
PARLO Tracker: Mr. Dave Taylor
Assessment: Dr. John Weathers

Partners

Fab Foundation

Franklin Institute

Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES)

World Learning

Funding Source: USAID

Start Date: September 2012
Duration: 4 Years + 1 Year Extension
Total Award: $4,322,708.00 + $950,000.00 (Extension)
Fiscal Agent: World Learning

Publications/Dissemination

Abouserie, R., & Merlino, F. J. (2014, April). A Revolution inside a revolution: Tales of radical educational transformation in a New Egypt, part 1. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Baker, J. Y., Mandel, K. B., & Weathers, J. M. (2014, April). Role of assessment in the development of a STEM school curriculum. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Pomeroy, D., Merlino, F. J., & Morrison, J. S. (2014, April). “Grand Challenges” as the design principle for a trans-disciplinary curriculum developed for model stem schools in Egypt. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.