. Additionally, the curriculum that supports the horizontally andvertically integrated STEM educational approach will be described in light of the positive resultsof this research. The specific pre-engineering program design in a mid-Atlantic-region schooland the methods of assessment may benefit other educators develop high school pre-engineeringprograms and develop instructional objectives to support students in developing authenticproblem-solving skills. Such programs may help better prepare students to orient themselves forpost-secondary engineering education and careers.BackgroundThe shortfall in the intended outcomes for students’ achievement of the implied higher orderthinking skills, characterized by one of the five C’s of the 21st century
. Rubric developmentand use represented our attempt to quantify our answers to the research questions and explorationof relationships among variables. In what follows, we explain our participant selection process,context for the study, the interviews we conducted, and our data analysis process.Project Participants Participants came from five classrooms in three schools in a school system in the mid-Atlantic area and were in the second half of their kindergarten year at the time of the study inspring 2018. Blakely Elementary is in a rural part of the county (one classroom); AdamsvilleElementary is a Title I school in an urban area (two classrooms); and Kellerton Elementary is ina middle-class suburban area (two classrooms); all school names