STEAM Academy at McCluer South-Berkeley High School has been recognized as a 2021-2022 Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Distinguished School. They are among 191 high schools from around the nation and 26 from Missouri to be named a Distinguished School for providing broad access to transformative learning experiences for students through PLTW [Computer Science, Biomedical Science, Engineering]. It is the second straight year STEAM Academy at MSB has received this award.

The PLTW Distinguished School recognition honors schools committed to increasing student access, engagement, and achievement in their PLTW programs. To be eligible for the designation, STEAM Academy at MSB had to meet the following criteria in the 2020-21 school year:

- Had 25 percent of students or more participate in PLTW High School courses, or of those who participated during the 2020-21 school year, at least 33 percent took two or more PLTW courses during their tenure at the school; 

- Offer and had students enrolled in at least three PLTW High School courses; 

- Had strategies and procedures in place that support reasonably proportional representation with regard to race, ethnicity, poverty, gender, and can support such claims with relevant data.

STEAM Academy at MSB began offering PLTW in 2019-2020, and today, 75% of STEAM students participate in the PLTW program.