How Can We Learn from These Efforts?
Implementation of this Call to Action presents the opportunity to elevate the importance of science education across the country. It could also be a tremendous opportunity to document the work of the Alliances for STEM Opportunity and learn from them. Researchers, educators, and other stakeholders can study how the alliances develop and act on strategies to improve science learning, and on how they create more coherent and equitable science learning opportunities across K-12, postsecondary, and in the community. Specific attention to entrenched disparities in access and opportunity can provide important lessons for addressing the broader, long-standing inequities in the American educational system K-16.
While the evidence base the committee drew on to develop this Call to Action is broad and deep, there are still many questions that can only be answered with more evidence. For instance, what strategies are most effective for advancing change in educational institutions in ways that center equity? How does context affect which strategies work best? How can better strategies for supporting science teacher learning across K-16 be designed and implemented, beginning in pre service for K-12 and when postsecondary faculty are in graduate school? What are novel funding models for science education in K-12 and postsecondary that ensure resources are distributed to schools, school systems, and institutions that serve students who are most in need? How can technology be used to support learning in science in equitable ways?
