Project Lead The Way ^® (PLTW, Inc.) forms partnerships among public schools, higher education institutions and the private sector to increase the quantity and quality of students who graduate in engineering and engineering technology. The program operates in most states from New York to California and in 1999 became a partner with the Southern Regional Education Board’s High Schools That Work initiative.

Project Lead The Way ^® was developed in the 1980s by Richard Blais, then chairman of the Technology Department at Shenendehowa Central School in upstate New York. Working with the New York Department of Education and Hudson Valley Community College, Blais and his staff began reviewing, developing and testing courses that incorporated engineering and engineering technology skills with the latest technology and software. Blais established the Technology Advisory Board to provide the expertise of people in industry and to support the necessary changes by locating funds for equipment and materials for the experimental program.

In the next three years the program attracted an increasing number of students, many of whom would not have enrolled in any technology course until college. The family of one member of the Advisory Board had earned a sizable fortune in industry. In the early 1990s, a grant from this family’s Charitable Venture Foundation formed Project Lead The Way^® and helped fund its expansion to schools nationwide.

For more information please contact Carolyn Helm, carolyn.helm@sreb.org or Kenneth Mason, kenneth.mason@sreb.org.