Contributing to capacity building in STEM education evaluation

ORAU has collaborated with a coalition of partners (including the American Evaluation Association's STEM Topical Interest Group and the Google- and NCWIT-originated CS Impact Network) over several years to create a suite of resources for the evaluation of STEM education and workforce development initiatives.

A central feature of our efforts was the development of an online repository of STEM evaluation resources. This searchable database includes a broad range of resources, such as high-quality instruments, surveys and protocols for conducting STEM program evaluation.

Evaluators and practitioners in STEM and computer science education need a consolidated source for robust evaluation tools and professional development that would build evaluation capacity in a scalable, sustainable manner.

Our efforts are based on an inclusive, broad, and open definition of STEM education and of evaluation within that field. Any contribution is welcome that is related to any field of evaluating education, training and workforce development in science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics. We define STEM as broadly as possible to encompass computer science, social sciences, health, applied mathematics and sciences, and more. We include educational contexts ranging from integrative STEM education through an interdisciplinary lens, to STEAM (STEM + arts), to efforts focused completely on a sub-field within STEM. We're open to STEM education initiatives in various settings, from medical education to STEM museum learning to computer science/coding activities for youth.

This collaborative effort resulted in a prototype repository for evaluation resources, including:

• introductory resources to evaluation planning, STEM evaluation, and CS evaluation;
• reports and deliverables;
• evaluation tools (instruments, measures, scales, protocols);
• other existing repositories and databases relevant to STEM education evaluation; and
• existing communities, professional groups, or mailing lists for evaluators.

Below, we provide access to the current collection of tools, as well as an opportunity for you to submit a resource that would be useful to other STEM education evaluators.

View the Repository Collection

Our repository aims to consolidate new knowledge from STEM and CS evaluation practitioners, while also identifying and linking to existing repositories to avoid duplication of effort. We hope this crowdsourced and curated collection of resources will increase access to and awareness of relevant evaluation resources.

The current repository dataset can be explored below, or you can access it directly as a downloadable spreadsheet. From there, you can explore the resources in your web browser, or click “File > Download” to make your own copy of the current dataset. New resources are added to the sheet when contributed via our “Enter a Resource” form at the bottom of this page.

Enter a Resource

If you would like to add an item to the repository, please provide information on your resource. The entry form is embedded below. We welcome resources that you or your organization have created, or resources that you've used and would like to recommend. Please feel free to share this page with your colleagues and networks, so we can build a strong foundation of useful resources.

 

Once resources are entered, they are reviewed by a member of our collaboration and are posted to the repository as soon as possible. Having problems? Have questions? Please contact eval@orau.org.