RALEIGH - Knightdale community leaders recently hosted a group of educators to discuss the implementation of science-and-math-based curriculums at two local schools.

Wake Superintendent Tony Tata, then-Wake County Chief Academic Officer Donna Hargens, NC STEM Community Collaborative head Karl Rectanus, other Wake officials, and local principals met with educational advocate Knightdale 100 at a July 21 "roundtable" in Raleigh.

This school year, East Wake Middle and Knightdale High will become part of the STEM network, which provides select schools with advanced technology and new learning techniques to help teachers promote a focus on science, technology, engineering and math. The schools receive additional funding and resources - from science kits to iPads - as well as training for teachers.

At the meeting, the group discussed how it could best use and share its new resources.

East Wake Middle Principal Nancy Allen and Knightdale High Principal Carla Jernigan hope to soon align their schools' curriculums. They want every class to emphasize a common theme such as engineering design, sustainability or problem solving, Allen said.

Knightdale 100 had lobbied for the two schools to become part of the STEM network.

Rectanus, who leads the state's STEM collaborative, was encouraged by the group's eagerness to involve the community in the classroom.

"There are few communities where businesses, community members and schools collaborate," Rectanus said in a Knightdale 100 press release. "This dynamic sets Knightdale schools up for success."

The new curriculum will likely better prepare students at those schools for finding work in what's now a desolate job market.

Students trained in STEM fields have a better chance of finding work according to a report released in July by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economics and Statistics Administration.

In the past 10 years, growth in STEM jobs was three times greater than that of non-STEM jobs, according to the report. That growth is expected to continue in the next decade. STEM workers are also less likely to experience joblessness, the report showed.

STEM workers also command higher wages, earning 26 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts and STEM degree-holders earn more, regardless of whether they work in STEM or non-STEM occupations, according to the report.

"A STEM education is a pathway to prosperity - not just for you as an individual but for America as a whole," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. "We need you in our classrooms, labs and key government agencies to help solve our biggest challenges, and that's why we are investing heavily to promote STEM education."

Knightdale 100 hopes to further educate the community about STEM programs.

It has scheduled a public forum about the STEM program. It's scheduled for 7 p.m., Thursday, September 22 at Knightdale Town Hall, 950 Steeple Square Court.