Afterschool Educators in Maine Can Receive Free Professional Development for Next Four Years

The Maine Mathematics & Science Alliance (MMSA) has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant which provides innovative training for out-of-school educators, including librarians, as they to bring more Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) into their programs. During this 4 year, nearly $3-million-dollar scale-up grant, MMSA will offer free coaching to afterschool educators who wish to hone their STEM facilitation skills, and we will now train others to become coaches.
 
MMSA’s ACRES project (Afterschool Coaching for Reflective Educators in STEM) has received national accolades for our virtual and innovative coaching model.  During the first year of COVID, MMSA helped hundreds of afterschool educators and networks virtualize their STEM offerings and indirectly supported thousands of youth, who were participating in remote programs.
 
As afterschool programs, like Boys and Girls Clubs, 21^st CCLC Sites and libraries, train new staff and support seasoned educators, MMSA will deliver coaching cohorts. There will be increased opportunities to reflect on how programs can make STEM career connections and STEM equity will be a focus our work. There will be no fees to participate, lots of resources will be extended to all participants, and there will even be stipends available to those that participate in MMSA’s educational research.
 
Full details of the project and to learn how to take advantage of these opportunities visit https://mmsa.org/projects/acres/
 
Contact
ACRES Project Leader:
Perrin Chick.     pchick@mmsa.org