Secondary Technical Education Project

The Secondary Technical Education Project (STEP) was established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 as the Institute's effort to participate in the Phase II desegregation program for the Boston Public Schools. In 1976 MIT, in partnership with the Wentworth Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Port Authority, helped establish the Mario Umana Harbor School of Science and Technology, a magnet school for grades 7-12 that provided a technical education to students from all parts of Boston. Several dozen members of the MIT community, including faculty, administrators, staff, and scientists, acted as advisors in the program.

Between 1975 and 1982, STEP was part of the Division for Study and Research in Education at MIT; when the division closed in 1982 it became an ad hoc program administered through the president's office. Dr. Stanley Russell directed STEP between 1975 and 1980.