Successful K-12 STEM Education 

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In response to a request from Congress, the NRC held a workshop* in May 2011 about successful education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (the disciplines that are collectively referred to as STEM). Drawing on the workshop presentations and several NRC reports on teaching, learning, and assessment in the STEM disciplines, the Committee on Highly Successful Schools or Programs for K-12 STEM Education issued Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in June 2011. This report considers various STEM-focused school models, highlights research on effective STEM education practices, and identifies conditions that promote school- and student-level success. After the report’s release, Congress requested that the National Science Foundation (NSF) identify methods for tracking and evaluating the implementation of the improvements recommended by Successful K-12 STEM Education. In response, the NSF has requested that the NRC appoint an expert committee to develop a strategic plan for evaluating progress toward the report’s recommendations. Overseen by the NRC’s Board on Science Education (BOSE) and Board on Testing and Assessment (BOTA) the Committee to Develop an Evaluation Framework for Successful K-12 STEM Education released Monitoring Progress Toward Successful K-12 STEM Education: A Nation Advancing?    The report:   Identifies existing and additional measures needed for tracking the report’s recommended improvements. Discusses the feasibility of including such measures in existing programs of data collection and linking them to existing and improved measures of science learning outcomes. Identifies additional research that would be needed to inform a full-scale evaluation of progress toward the report’s recommendations. Contains recommendations regarding the roles of various federal and state institutions in supporting the needed research and data collection for an evaluation of progress toward the recommendations.   *This work was sponsored by the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Education and Human Resources     Related NRC Reports: A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits Preparing Teachers: Building Evidence for Sound Policy Systems for State Science Assessment Taking Science To School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8

Report   Monitoring Plan   Workshop Summary    Report Brief   Report Brief   Commissioned Papers   Webcast: U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Research and Science Education Hearing, October 12, 2011