Considerations for the 2025-2026 STEM Integration Grant

The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) is offering the 2025-2026 STEM Integration Grant, a competitive opportunity for K-12 schools. This grant aims to enhance student participation and achievement in STEM disciplines by assisting grantees in expanding their access to targeted, integrated learning opportunities and high-quality materials. The grant period runs from Monday, July 1, 2025, through Sunday, June 30, 2026. Applications are due by Friday, August 15, 2025, at 11:45 p.m. ET and must be submitted through eCivis.

Here at Five Star Technology Solutions, we aim to leverage our knowledge of grant writing, Indiana’s Priorities for STEM education, and change management to help your school craft a compelling proposal. To get your organization started, here are three considerations we recommend as founding elements of your grant application.

1. Administrative Support and Strategic Planning: Laying the Foundation for Success

Securing a grant like the STEM Integration Grant begins with strong administrative backing and a clear strategic vision. When you partner with Five Star, you’ll find we understand the research-backed importance of strategic leadership engagement. To lay a foundation of successful STEM integration, we start by supporting school leaders as they align important initiatives and professional learning with broader school goals. When there is thoughtfully planned alignment, new learning opportunities for educators will contribute directly to institutional objectives and lead to a more unified and effective instructional program (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017). To assure grant viability, a Professional Development Team Senior Director will review your initial application for these elements, highlighting the importance of leadership engagement from the outset.

Eligibility and Compliance: Before applying, your organization must be registered with the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office, the State Comptroller’s Office (via W-9 and direct deposit forms), and the Indiana Department of Administration’s Supplier Contract Management System (SCM) before the application deadline. Failure to register with any of these agencies will automatically dismiss your application. The application also requires review and approval from the superintendent and the finance/business director. In addition, ensure your organization...

• confirms its eligibility as an Indiana public school corporation, charter school, or other entity that agrees to the Grant Assurances, 
• can complete all Grant Components, 
• follows State Contracting Registrations, 
• creates a sustainability plan, and 
• meets Data Collection Requirements.

Strategic Alignment: Your proposal must relate to a state STEM Priority Strand (Science, Computer Science, or Mathematics) and clearly describe a plan to advance student achievement in your chosen STEM content strand. This involves outlining how the plan integrates with Indiana’s Priorities for STEM Education and the goals of the 2023 Integrated STEM Standards. The grant requirements encourage schools to think strategically about the specific outcomes they want to achieve by the end of the grant cycle.

Leadership Initiatives for STEM Integration: To cultivate a dynamic integrated STEM environment, leadership learning and planning sessions can equip school leaders with essential knowledge, skills, and resources. Such initiatives are designed to foster a culture that embraces and nurtures STEM education. Research consistently shows that school leaders are key drivers of instructional improvement and student outcomes. By engaging in and supporting new initiatives and professional learning, school leaders directly influence the quality of instruction and, consequently, student success. Our leadership sessions aim to enable administrators to “follow up more consistently on classroom observations to provide more specific, actionable feedback for teachers to use to improve their practice,” leading to numerous benefits for their teachers and students (Grissom et al., 2021). This also aligns with Integrated STEM Strategic Planning, crucial for defining measurable outcomes, identifying deficits, and aligning specific goals to needs using local data.

Sustainability Plan: A critical application component is a comprehensive three-year sustainability plan outlining ongoing support for proposed activities beyond the grant cycle. This plan should include instructional support for educators (including new hires) and feasible funding sources that are not reliant on future grants.

2. Take Care of Your Educators: Elevating Classroom Practices

The grant explicitly prioritizes educator professional development aligned with evidence-based instructional strategies and age/grade-level content in mathematics, science, computer science, and/or interdisciplinary STEM content. Successful grant applications will provide strong evidence that activities align with a high-quality professional development model. At Five Star, our experienced professional development team understands that a school culture prioritizing continuous learning, collaboration, and constructive feedback makes educators feel supported, valued, and motivated to excel. This collective commitment to growth strengthens collegial relationships and builds a shared vision for instructional excellence (Di Michele Lalor, 2022). To elevate your organization’s classroom practices, Five Star offers…

• Workshop Series: STEM Workshops for Educators are designed to integrate STEM principles into teaching approaches by offering comprehensive knowledge and hands-on experience with cutting-edge STEM tools and technologies. These workshops foster collaborative sharing of best practices to boost confidence and motivation when teaching integrated STEM and Computer Science concepts aligned with the Integrated STEM Standards. Examples include:
  
  
  • 5E on-demand with virtual coaching follow-up
  • STEM Mindsets with virtual coaching follow-up
  • STEM Classroom Applications with virtual coaching follow-up
  • Experience CS (formerly Google’s CS First) and Makey Makey Invention Kits
• Integrated STEM Instructional Approaches: Workshops can empower educators to seamlessly integrate STEM subjects into their current curriculum. These sessions provide strategies for crafting and executing engaging, challenging, and real-world-relevant STEM lessons. Tailored experiences can include the 5E Model, Inquiry-Based Learning, or Project-Based Learning to enhance a fully integrated STEM environment.
• Integrated STEM Coaching: The grant guidelines also emphasize the importance of professional development models that provide follow-up coaching or expert support. When you partner with Five Star, a part-time coach can offer specialized expertise and steadfast support to teachers and students in their STEM integration journey. Our coaches leverage their classroom experiences to collaborate closely with educators, aiding in creating impactful STEM lessons and integrating innovative tools while providing continuous professional development opportunities. 
• Focused Strands: Your application must identify one of three content strands:
  
  • STEM - Science: Focuses on professional learning and planning for implementing the 2023 Indiana Academic Standards for Science, emphasizing phenomenon-based, three-dimensional instruction that integrates science, engineering practices, technology, and mathematics.
  • STEM - Computer Science: Involves professional learning and planning for integrating the 2023 Indiana Academic Standards for Computer Science, cultivating connections between STEM disciplines and computer science. This can include high school computer science courses or K-8 integration. While funds may not be used to purchase AI-powered platforms or tools, the grant supports professional development that prepares educators to teach the computer science behind how AI works.
  • STEM - Mathematics: Involves professional learning and planning for integrating the 2023 Indiana Standards for Mathematics, cultivating connections between science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics. This can include professional development for implementing a multitiered system of support framework.

3. Community Involvement: Expanding Access to STEM Beyond the Classroom

The grant aims to achieve a key result: increasing student access to high-quality STEM learning opportunities and resources. Your application should clearly explain how the proposed elements will accomplish this, emphasizing resources previously unavailable to students.

• Increasing Access: The grant requires applicants to identify and explain how their proposed elements will increase access to STEM courses, programs, learning, and/or resources that were previously unavailable. This also includes ensuring all students in your targeted grade level(s) will have access.
• Community Event Planning - STEM Nights: While not a specific "offering" detailed in the grant memo, organizing community events like Integrated STEM Nights could be a powerful way to demonstrate how your school plans to increase student access to STEM learning beyond the traditional classroom setting. Such initiatives can extend the grant's impact by involving the broader community and showcasing STEM in real-world contexts, aligning with the grant's goal of expanding learning opportunities. This could also be part of the long-term "potential plans to extend the grant initiatives past the grant cycle" outlined in your sustainability plan.

By thoughtfully addressing these three areas—administrative planning, educator empowerment, and community engagement—your school can develop a robust and competitive application for the 2025-2026 STEM Integration Grant. Remember to utilize the checklist and appendices provided by the IDOE for detailed requirements and evaluation criteria. And of course, Five Star will be here as a partner, guide, and advocate for your successful grant application! 

Darling-Hammond, L., Hammond, Hyler, M. E., Gardner, M., Danny Espinoza, Jessica Cardichon, Kathryn Bradley, Naomi Spinrad, Penelope Malish, Lisa Gonzales, Laura Desimone, & Michael Fullan. (2017). Effective teacher professional development. In Learning Policy Institute, S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, & Sandler Foundation, Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/Effective_Teacher_Professional_Development_REPORT.pdf

Di Michele Lalor, A. (2022, September 22). How School leaders can support effective Professional development. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-school-leaders-can-support-effective-professional-development/

Grissom, J. A., Egalite, A. J., & Lindsay, C. A. (2021). How principals Affect students and Schools: A systematic synthesis of two decades of research (By The Wallace Foundation). The Wallace Foundation. https://doi.org/10.59656/EL-SB1065.001