TIES serves as the backbone for the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice

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TIES, Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM, works with cities, regions and states to create STEM Ecosystems that unlock the full potential of regional partnerships to expand STEM.

TIES serves as the backbone organization for the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice, a global initiative made up of 100 Ecosystems operating across the world. TIES, an educational consulting firm based in Cleveland, is also the co-founder of the initiative, which was launched in 2015.

The goal of a STEM Ecosystem is to link ALL aspects of education, workforce and economic development to work together for gains in STEM Learning for all. Ecosystems are complex adaptive systems (systems nested in systems) that ensure knowledge is advanced, pervasive, and actionable.

At its essence, a STEM Ecosystem is a complex system (infrastructure) of actively connected and collaborating organizations and individuals working to develop STEM education and opportunities in their communities.

Forming STEM Ecosystems was listed as the top strategy for communities by the federal office of Science Technology Policy. Additionally, STEM Ecosystems were listed in the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, a bill that will supply billions of funding to the National Science Foundation for scaling innovation in STEM. STEM Ecosystems have been singled out as eligible entities to apply for such funding.

Ohio’s commitment to STEM, demonstrated via leadership from education, workforce development, business and industry, non-profits, philanthropy and others, provides an ideal home for STEM Ecosystems to proliferate and prosper.

While Ohio has made tremendous progress furthering STEM education through initiatives, STEM in Ohio will not achieve its full potential until Ecosystems come together, connected with workforce development and postsecondary initiatives, to actualize a single vision and set of processes that are equitable.

TIES (The Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM Education, working through Envision Excellence in STEM Education) is leading STEM SAIL: Ohio. For more information, please contact Jan Morrison, founder and CEO of TIES, JanMorrison@TiesTeach.org