CTE and STEM Programs

Levent Sakar is a seasoned STEM education leader and Director of Career and Technical Education and STEM Programs at Harmony Public Schools. He stewards K–12 STEM strategy through project-based learning, careeraligned pathways and interdisciplinary instruction. Known for championing student-centered, future-ready learning, he has supported national STEM initiatives, including NASA-linked collaborations while forging stronger connections between academic learning, technical skill development and real-world career readiness.

Cultivating STEM Excellence from Classroom Insight

One of the most defining dimensions of my 25-year career has been teaching physics and related science disciplines to students from varied academic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. That experience shaped my conviction that every student can thrive in STEM when supported by the right instructional methods, environment and support structures.

I have seen students once disconnected from science recover curiosity and self-belief when instruction became deliberate, relevant and student-centered. Those classroom experiences instilled a principle that continues to inform my leadership. Engagement is not incidental. It emerges from purposeful design, authentic relevance and learning environments that position students as active participants in their own development.

That understanding evolved when I moved from classroom teaching into instructional leadership. Mentoring teachers, shaping professional development around genuine classroom needs and working alongside educators to solve instructional challenges showed me how those same conditions could be established across classrooms and campuses. Because my approach was grounded in lived classroom practice, it fostered trust and strengthened collective efficacy.

Today, as Director of CTE and STEM Programs, I bring the same classroom-grounded lens to the design of STEM systems. Strong systems depend on rigorous curriculum, empowered educators, aligned structures and intentional design.

Translating Educator Strength Into System Performance

The foundation of my leadership philosophy rests on a simple premise. Enduring excellence is built by addressing weaknesses and amplifying strengths.

In K–12 systems, leaders often focus on gaps through intervention plans, compliance reviews and performance monitoring. Those mechanisms matter, but a system focused only on deficiencies rarely builds momentum or cultivates excellence at scale. Every educator possesses areas of distinction, and leadership must create the conditions for those strengths to influence the wider system.

Our “Share and Shine” culture serves that purpose. Teachers demonstrating exceptional instructional practice are elevated into visible leadership roles by leading professional development, facilitating professional learning communities and mentoring across campuses. Excellence is drawn directly from classrooms. That strengthens morale, builds credibility and accelerates the spread of effective practice.

Professional development is central to that effort. It must be rigorous, practicebased and led by credible practitioners. Innovation, meanwhile, must be disciplined. We follow a Pilot–Refine–Scale model. During pilot phases, we gather evidence, sharpen design and build stakeholder confidence. When an initiative expands, implementation is led by the educators who validated it, preserving fidelity and trust.

Equally important is coherence across PreK–12. Every STEM and CTE experience, from kindergarten exploration to high school career pathways, must align toward a clear endpoint. Without that clarity, systems drift into initiative fatigue. With it, coherence becomes a durable advantage.

Advancing Students From Exposure to Mastery

That model finds its clearest expression in STEM SOS, or Students on the Stage, Harmony Public Schools’ signature project-based learning framework. First developed for grades 6–12 under the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top grant, STEM SOS was later extended to K–5 under the EIR grant. It now operates as a vertically aligned K–12 ecosystem grounded in highquality project-based learning.

At its core, STEM SOS is rigorous, interdisciplinary and standards-driven. It is teacher-facilitated yet unmistakably student-centered, with learning organized through carefully designed project- and inquiry-based experiences. Academic standards remain foundational, while mastery is deepened through authentic application.

Student voice and choice are indispensable. Within standards-aligned parameters, students select project topics, work collaboratively or independently and often extend projects across the academic year. Projects are developed on digital platforms, enabling students to build e-portfolios while strengthening digital literacy. True to its name, STEM SOS culminates in public demonstration through STEM fairs, exhibitions and showcase events. When learners know their work will be examined by authentic audiences, the level of rigor rises.

The outcomes have been pronounced. Assessment results have improved, demonstrating that demanding project-based learning can strengthen achievement. Participation and success in science fairs, robotics competitions, drone programs and coding events have also increased. STEM SOS is therefore more than an instructional strategy. It is a system expectation integrated into scheduling, professional development and accountability.

Building Readiness Earlier and More Broadly

Once that model proved effective at the secondary level, the next question became unavoidable. If it prepares students so effectively by graduation, why should exposure begin so late?

With federal support, we extended the model into K–5 through a structured STEM Extension program embedded in the instructional day. Alongside math and science, students receive weekly Technology Applications and Engineering Design experiences. The goal is not premature specialization, but early discovery. By the time students begin selecting pathways in middle school, they already possess hands-on experience, technical vocabulary and greater confidence.

The broader K–12 design has informed several recent initiatives. One is AI Literacy for K–8 students. As artificial intelligence reshapes industries, education must move beyond passive awareness toward informed understanding. At the eighth-grade level, we offer two pathways. Foundations of Artificial Intelligence is a year-long course centered on core AI concepts, computational thinking and algorithmic reasoning. Applied Artificial Intelligence (Honors) places greater emphasis on application and advanced problem-solving.

The same commitment to access also informs our “STEM for All” approach. Engineering and computer science have historically seen lower female participation. Every elementary student receives dedicated Technology Applications and Engineering Design instruction each week. To strengthen female participation further, we host Girls in STEM Nights, establish all-girls robotics teams, increase female STEM teacher representation, invite women engineers into classrooms and organize targeted outreach.

Using Evidence to Sharpen Execution

Designing a coherent pipeline is only part of the work. Sustaining it across campuses and classrooms requires an equally disciplined approach to evidence and implementation.

We do not require STEM teachers to submit lesson plans. Instead, we require implementation artifacts, evidence of what students actually produced. That shift moves the conversation from intention to impact.

A centralized curriculum model ensures aligned materials and pacing across campuses. The artifacts teachers submit reveal which activities are working, which materials need refinement and where added support is required. They also help identify high-performing teachers who can lead professional development and shape targeted coaching.

Low implementation is not automatically treated as a teacher-performance issue. Barriers may be structural, including scheduling constraints, limited lab access, resource gaps or insufficient prep time. By reading the data carefully, we can distinguish instructional gaps from systemic obstacles. Used properly, data becomes a design instrument rather than a compliance device.

Preparing Students for Roles Still Taking Shape

The future of STEM leadership lies not in program administration alone, but in designing systems that remain adaptive, relevant and future-facing. World-class leadership will be defined by the ability to connect education to workforce realities while preparing students for roles that are still emerging. This requires STEM leaders to use labor-market intelligence to shape pathways linked to high-demand sectors without losing sight of the fact that many future careers have yet to emerge.

That is why durable competencies matter so deeply. Students need computational thinking, design thinking, adaptability, collaboration and ethical technology awareness alongside technical proficiency. Industry certifications, work-based learning and employer partnerships remain vital within a broader system that equips students for initial employment and continued reinvention over time.

The role of the STEM director is therefore evolving from program manager to talent architect. Our responsibility is to design coherent systems that cultivate ingenuity, resilience and readiness at scale. We cannot prepare students only for the world as it exists today. We must prepare them for the world they will help shape.