Enabling Factors and Barriers for Adopting Engineering Curricula in High Schools: School, District, and State Administrator Perspectives (Fundamental)

Pre-college engineering education has been on a sharp rise in the United States. Numerous schools offer some variation of an engineering curricula, but challenges remain regarding socio-cultural perceptions of engineering, teacher training, curricular alignment with state standards, and policy decisions. Many past studies have examined students' and teachers' knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs regarding pre-college engineering instruction. Few studies have investigated the viewpoints of school administrators, or state and district personnel. This qualitative study investigated perspectives of three such administrators in a southwest US public high school. The school was one of nine pilot locations offering a new engineering course designed to 'demystify' engineering for high school students and teachers from all walks of life. Results converged around four major themes: 1) relevance and current state of pre-college engineering education, 2) teacher certification and professional development, 3) industry connections, and 4) expectations of pre-college engineering curricula. The resulting themes shed light on long standing issues affecting adoption of engineering at the pre-college level and highlight a few areas that upcoming pre-college engineering education programs could focus on.