Inclusive STEM high schools (ISHSs) can be viewed as opportunity structures for students underrepresented in STEM. By opportunity structures, we mean an education that provides not only access to high quality STEM curriculum and instruction or "opportunity to learn," but also the capacity to create learning environments where students can build STEM social capital and the dispositions, knowledge, skills, and networks to be successful in STEM college majors and careers. This is a cross-case analysis of case studies that describe the design and implementation of eight "exemplar" ISHSs. Beginning with 10 hypothesized critical components, we found evidence for all 10, but present in unique patterns of prominence, depending on the school context. Further inductive analysis located an additional four emergent critical components that complete the picture of how these successful ISHSs were able to achieve their goals. Importantly, across schools, four components stood out as foundational: a flexible and autonomous administrative structure; a college-preparatory, STEM-focused curriculum for all; well-prepared STEM teachers and professionalized teaching staffs; and supports for students in underrepresented groups.

This instrumental case study of Manor New Tech High (MNTH) provides insight and understanding of a trend in U.S. education to create new STEM schools and increase the achievement of students underrepresented in STEM. MNTH was an inclusive, STEM-focused high school, in Manor, Texas. The creation of the school was stimulated by a statewide Texas STEM education policy initiative, seed money from private foundations, and local community support. MNTH was chosen for this study because of its diverse student population and reputation as a successful, innovative STEM school. The case provides an in-depth look at the school's design, implementation, and outcome dimensions, in context. Ten candidate critical components framed the study and illuminate opportunity structures for MNTH students as they learned STEM and built social capital. MNTH implemented a project-based learning instructional environment, ubiquitous integration of technology, and a strong STEM curriculum. Teachers collaborated to create innovative curriculum and instruction, led by an energetic, well-connected principal. A robust network of student supports helped to ensure that students attained the skills and confidence in STEM and for college admission. The positive school culture promoted a sense of family, and the STEM focus enabled acquisition of 21st century skills.

Inclusive STEM high schools are relatively new in the U.S., yet they have policy implications for school reform, STEM initiatives, and improving opportunity for all students. Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee each have launched statewide initiatives to boost the number of inclusive STEM high schools -known as ISHSs. These schools accept students primarily on the basis of their interest in STEM rather than aptitude or prior achievement. The goal of this type of STEM school is to prepare students to be successful in a STEM college major by providing a program of studies with greater depth and breadth than their states require for high school graduation (Lynch, 2015;Means et al., 2008).ISHSs intentionally recruit and enroll higher proportions of students from groups often underrepresented in STEM -AfricanAmericans, Hispanics, women, students from low-income families, and fi rst-generation college goers. With admission by lottery, ISHSs are schools of choice; students are interested in STEM and are willing to work hard in a college preparatory environment. A distributed leadership model propels innovative STEM high schools to produce graduates ready for college and prepared to successfully major in STEM disciplines.R&D appears in each issue of Kappan with the assistance of the Deans Alliance, which is composed of the deans of the education schools/colleges at the following universities:

Through the reading, study, and performance of Copenhagen, a play by Michael Frayn, chemistry students see the application of nuclear chemistry content, acquire a better understanding of the continuum from scientific research to technology design, and also become aware of the many and varied interrelationships of science with history and humanity. This article describes a method to use the play in a high school chemistry classroom as a vehicle for cross-disciplinary integration of chemistry content through the context of history and the development of scientists as people. Students experience the lives of two scientists, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, as they negotiate their academic and personal relationships surrounding basic atomic research during the historical time period surrounding World War II and the creation of the atom bomb. In student group discussions, tangents of discourse move from the various scientists' personalities and the iterative nature of scientific research, to questions of politics, ethics, and morality in a historic context as they discuss, debate, and decide upon ways to present the play so their peers will understand and appreciate the experience.

This study illustrates the consequences of accounting for or ignoring teacher variability in student ratings in conjunction with combination rules when identifying students for gifted services in one rural primary school. Teachers ( n = 16) rated 282 first-- and second grade students on creativity, motivation, mathematics, and science. Results indicated the most variability in how teachers used the science scale and the least variability in the mathematics scales. Further, teachers rated female students higher than male students in motivation, but not on any other scale. More students were identified if the top students were identified in each class versus the top students in each grade level, and largely, the students who were identified within their classrooms were not the same students who were identified within their grade level. And as expected, OR rules resulted in the highest number of students identified. Implications and recommendations are discussed.