Educators and researchers often think of program design and program evaluation as separate endeavors, even intentionally creating a firewall between them. But what if designers and evaluators worked together, combining their insights to strengthen both the program and the study of it? In the work of evaluating a statewide professional learning…

Major developments over the past two decades in STEM education and classroom assessment provide a compelling argument for shifting the focus of assessment toward the classroom where its most powerful benefits can be realized. The increased emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion in education puts increased scrutiny on assessment practices and…

This is the executive summary of the report, "Combining Researchers' and Practitioners' Intelligences for STEM Improvement: A Study of the Local Labs of the Research and Practice Collaboratory." The Research and Practice Collaboratory (RPC) supported projects in three states--California, Maine, and Washington--that had the function of…

Like many institutions around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted us to shift our summer 2020 in-person undergraduate experiential learning program to a remote, virtual format. Here, we present our observations, summarized in 10 best practices, for moving a STEM-focused research experience for undergraduates, experiential learning program or…

Recent studies have identified that engaging middle school students (grades 6-8) in STEM activities increases their chances of choosing STEM-related disciplines when entering college; however, very few university-sponsored opportunities are available for these students. This paper describes an outreach day for middle school students consisting of…

This article describes the development of an innovative clinically rich STEM middle school residency program, one with emphasis in middle grades mathematics program and another in middle grades science aimed to cultivate responsive middle School STEM teachers who are prepared to teach and reach the next generation of young adolescent learners. In…

While their authority for program approval may vary from state to state, state boards of education should ensure that the secondary school career and technical education (CTE) programs are part of a continuum that prepares students for further education, training, and the workplace. By expanding apprenticeship programs, state boards can give…

Community partnerships empower charter schools by strengthening their capacity to serve the needs of students, families, and staff through deliberate partnerships with community-based entities. The autonomy that charter schools are afforded uniquely equips them with the flexibility to engage partners and even design schools for which one or more…

This paper discusses Implementation of a new educational approach to develop competencies for the future STEM workforce, and to build knowledge on success factors for educating a non-traditional target population in data competencies. It is widely accepted that a data capable workforce is critical to science and industry. The literature suggests…

Facilities are the foundation for safe and effective STEM teaching and learning, and the manner in which they are initially designed can either enhance or impede the quality of a program. This new focus on facilities in the U.S, and particularly in Texas, is needed to engage students in relevant and meaningful learning experiences that are aligned…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate design principles for transforming existing making communities of practice within public libraries into online knowledge-building communities to support youths, families with young children and adult members' making and tinkering during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: Building upon C4P and connected…

The authors introduce the Preparation in STEM Leadership Program at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. This NSF-Funded program and research study creates a centralized training program for peer leaders that includes a battery of assessments to evaluate peer leaders' content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, communication skills, and…

This design case describes the tensions and resolutions related to the iterative design of a virtual STEM peer mentoring program for White and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) women in STEM study programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). Stakeholder feedback, along…

Both Ohio's state leadership and its foundation community recognized that, to move forward in a global economy, Ohio would need a highly trained workforce that would attract high tech companies to the state. Though STEM shortages have been a pervasive problem for decades, with the election of a new Governor in 2008, there was call to action from…

The purpose of this article was to develop an elementary school robot STEAM program and explore the possibility of field applications. To this end, the authors extracted the contents related to school achievement standards for 5th and 6th grade curricula around the topic of robot soccer, incorporating a relevant curriculum based on the extracted…