USD 261 plans three-year rollout of Project Lead The Way in elementary specials

Haysville USD 261 administrators told the board they plan to implement Project Lead The Way (PLTW) across the district's six elementary schools on a phased, three-year rollout beginning with teacher training this summer.

Assistant superintendent for curriculum (presenter identified in transcript as Doctor Amy Novotny) said the district's decision grew from the shift to one-to-one devices and students arriving with basic digital skills. PLTW, the presenter said, provides project-based STEM instruction that blends science, computer science and engineering practices and emphasizes collaboration and problem solving.

"We would have the media specialist kind of front load that story so we could partner up with the tech teachers too so they don't feel like they're alone in their building teaching Project Lead the Way," the presenter said, describing how media specialists and technology teachers would share instruction.

Rollout plan highlights - The district plans a three-year rollout, training teachers on roughly 18 of PLTW's launch modules in the initial schedule. - Training for PLTW's launch modules requires a two- to three-day session; district leaders plan summer training so staff can teach modules starting in August. - The district will pair media specialists with technology teachers for co-teaching and to create makerspace-like rooms where desks and materials can be moved for collaboration. - At the middle-school level, PLTW electives and a separate "We Build It Better" manufacturing introductory program are already in place; administrators reported strong student engagement and demand.

Curriculum alignment and funding Administrators said PLTW aligns with Kansas Can initiatives, state science standards and ISTE computer-science standards; they also noted PLTW offers grant opportunities that could offset implementation costs. The district plans to cross-reference PLTW modules with the existing Mystery Science curriculum to avoid duplicating instruction and to free classroom time for deeper inquiry or interventions.

Why it matters The move would shift the elementary technology special from basic keyboarding and mouse skills toward deeper STEM and computer science exposure and aims to increase student collaboration, problem solving and hands-on science instruction across grade levels.

Next steps District leaders will finalize a rollout schedule, identify physical room needs at each building, schedule summer PLTW trainings and return to the board with implementation details.