Application Process

All 6th grade students seeking enrollment in Scranton School District STEMM Academy must complete an application by February 16th, 2024.

Forms must be fully completed and signed by a parent or legal guardian and either handed in to the SSD middle school guidance offices or sent/ emailed to Katona Miller at Scranton High School (katona.miller@ssdedu.org). This form can also be completed online by clicking on the "Application" tab.

Application Process
The application process will start in December of the current school year for entrance into the program for the following school year.  

Prerequisites: 
Recommended for Pre-Algebra in 7th Grade (Strongly Recommended) 
All students who are interested are encouraged to apply!

Students who do not get accepted may be placed on a waitlist based on total score. Pending availability, those on the waitlist may be offered an opening prior to the first day of school each year.

STEM Application Rating System*
QUALIFIERS - POINTS
STEM Teacher Recommendation/ Evaluation - 10 pts
5th Grade’s PSSA Math and Reading Scores - 20 pts
Project Based Assessment - 20 pts
School Attendance - 10 pts
Discipline History - 10 pts
Interview or Essay** - 10 pts
*Scores will not be released and only used in the event there are more applicants than enrollment openings. 
**To be used only in the event of a tie for acceptance

Following a student’s acceptance, the district may deny a student’s privilege for entry into the program due to any academic deficiencies and/or discipline infractions that have occurred following acceptance.

 

Rating System Breakdown
Teacher Recommendation/ Evaluation
This form will be sent to your teacher(s) and scored by a computer, this is not a recommendation letter.

5th Grade’s PSSA Math and Reading Scores
A student’s PSSA scores will be converted into the following point system for both Math and Reading*:
Advanced: 10 pts
Proficient: 7.5 pts
Basic: 5 pts
Below Basic: 2.5 pts
No Score/ Unscorable: 0 pts
*For students who do not take the PSSAs - 5th grade ELA & Math Benchmark data will be used if available
    

Project Based Assessment
A short 2 hour project and design based assessment done at Scranton High School*
Potential students will get a short 15 minute introduction to the project and then 45 minutes to complete the activity within a group. The last 45 minutes will be used for students to individually analyze their results/ design to answer analysis questions. Project collaboration, design, and analysis will be scored, using a rubric where necessary, by a blind committee chosen by the STEM Program Supervisor, average will be calculated and used
*PSSA accommodations will be afforded to any student who qualifies for PSSA accommodations

School Attendance
A student’s current attendance percentage will be converted into the following point system:
90% - 100%: 10 pts
70% - 89%: 7.5 pts
50% - 69%: 5 pts
30% - 49%: 2.5 pts
29% or lower: 0 pts    

Discipline History
A student’s discipline history will be converted into the following point system:
No discipline write ups: 10 pts
1 - 3 discipline write ups, no suspensions: 5 pts
> 3 discipline write ups and/ or suspension(s): 0 pts        

Interview or Essay (only in the event of a tie for acceptance)
2 - 5 minute express interview OR constructed response to a given prompt
Scored by a blind committee using a rubric; average will be calculated and used

**Students Identified as Special Ed or 504
Upon acceptance of a special ed student or a protected handicapped student, an evaluation report/ record review must be developed for the special ed child, and the appropriate team needs to convene under IDEA or 504 to review the IEP or the 504 plan to be sure it can be implemented in the STEMM Academy, and a NOREP must be issued.