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6 Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 112-131

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From page 112...
... The committee's conclusions and recommendations are based on the materials and testimony outlined in Chapter 1 and informed by the scientific, engineering, educational, and evaluation expertise of its members. Given the short period available for the study, the complexity of NASA's education and public outreach activities, and the limited evaluative information available, the committee's answers are based primarily on the expertise of its members.
From page 113...
... The assets NASA brings to this role come from the agency's contributions in science and technology made through the work in the mission directorates: Science, Aeronautics Research, Exploration Systems, and Space Operations. Conclusion: The primary strengths and resources that NASA brings to K-12 STEM education are its scientific discoveries, its technology and aeronautical developments, and its space exploration activities, as well as the scientists, engineers, and other technical staff that make up its workforce and the unique excitement generated by flight and space exploration.
From page 114...
... The program has also been negatively affected by increases in the number and dollar value of congressional earmarks for projects that have been designated for the headquarters Office of Education without a concomitant increase in budget. These earmarks -- from $19 million in fiscal 2005 to $39 million in fiscal 2006 -- limit the headquarters Office of Education's ability to make judgments about resource allocation that are based on an overall strategy for the Elementary and Secondary Program and on the merits and needs of individual projects.
From page 115...
... Conclusion: Many of the projects within the headquarters Office of Education's K-12 STEM education program do not have clear, realistic, and appropriately defined project-level goals and objectives that reflect the resources available and the target audiences for them. Recommendation 5  NASA should take a more intentional approach to portfolio development than it has to date so that individual projects are well defined and have clear and realistic goals and objectives given their target audiences.
From page 116...
... The broker-facilitator and forum model supported through the Office of Space Science successfully supported the use of such partnership approaches to leverage the educational ­products developed in the missions, as well as facilitating cooperation among different projects with related science goals in developing coordinated educational efforts. The headquarters Office of Education projects reviewed by the committee do not consistently capitalize on this kind of partnership.
From page 117...
... The key is to select partners that bring the relevant educational expertise (curriculum development, professional development, pedagogy, district and state school system knowledge, evaluation, etc.) or that are positioned to leverage a project for broad audiences.
From page 118...
... Given this pattern, the committee supports the recent shift in management of specific projects to the centers following the 2006 strategic framework and the altering of the role of the headquarters Office of Education to coordination and oversight of the portfolio. The committee assumes that the specific activities carried out by the headquarters Office of Education will include • ensuring the sharing of good practices among NASA's education programs and projects; • supporting information dissemination and shared technology, in part through maintaining a user-friendly and regularly updated website that can enable teachers and students to readily find NASA education projects and materials; • ensuring adequate data collection and evaluation to assess the q ­ uality of the programs delivered;
From page 119...
... In the development of new education projects, the office should partner closely with the mission directorates or centers and consult with external education experts. Use of Information and Communications Technology The committee found that K-12 STEM education projects were often using information and communications technology that is outdated (see Chapter 4)
From page 120...
... CORE PROJECTS OF THE HEADQUARTERS OFFICE OF EDUCATION This section presents the committee's conclusions and recommendations for three of the seven core projects in the headquarters Office of Education: NASA Explorer Schools (NES) ; the Aerospace Education Services Project (AESP)
From page 121...
... However, by partnering with other suc cessful reform efforts, NASA can bring valuable additional resources to support and enhance that work. The Aerospace Education Services Project The Aerospace Education Services Project is one of the longest running projects in NASA's K-12 STEM education program and has enjoyed an enthusiastic group of supporters who continue to use its services.
From page 122...
... Recommendation 12  The AESP project should be designed so as to better integrate and coordinate services with state and local education agencies. Recommendation 13  Specialists in the Aerospace Education Services Project should receive more intensive and more frequent training to ensure they have sufficient understanding of the science and engineer ing issues related to the educational products that they are expected to disseminate.
From page 123...
... Recommendation 15  The SEMAA project manager, in collaboration with NASA headquarters Office of Education, should assess whether the Aerospace Education Laboratory is the most cost-effective way to achieve project goals. The outcome of this assessment should guide revision of the project's model.
From page 124...
... In this context, the headquarters Office of Education needs an overall evaluation plan for the K-12 education program and its projects. Such a plan would help to identify the appropriate questions that address program and project goals and outline the mechanisms by which results of evaluation would inform project implementation.
From page 125...
... This was generally not the case for the seven core headquarters Office of Education projects reviewed by the committee. Conclusion: Data are needed to serve dual purposes: project monitoring and fiscal due diligence, and program evaluation.
From page 126...
... . NASA's K-12 STEM education program would be well served if ­projects consistently drew on expertise in education through partnerships with
From page 127...
... that the headquarters Office of Education adopt an approach to managing the K-12 program that includes periodic review of project implementation and impact, with the intent of revising individual projects or adjusting the balance of projects in the portfolio when necessary. At NASA, as is the case in other federal science agencies involved in education, few projects have been formally evaluated, and none has been evaluated rigorously.
From page 128...
... Question 3: What is the state of the funding priorities in the K-12 education program, including a review of the funding level and trend for each major component of the program, to include an assessment of whether available resources are consistent with meeting identified goals and priorities? NASA supports K-12 STEM education through funds directly received by the headquarters Office of Education, as well as by mandating that a percentage of funds from individual science missions be designated for
From page 129...
... The intention appears to be that each component of NASA's education program should contribute in working toward these broad goals, as part of a general national effort. In practice, the manner in which this effort has been undertaken in recent years is to concentrate a good fraction of the program's resources on a limited number of schools– -- those selected as NASA Explorer Schools.
From page 130...
... , in which NASA has demonstrated good collaboration with other agencies. GLOBE is one such example, where NASA, NSF, and the Department of State worked together to establish program goals and contracted with educational experts to develop active earth science learning opportunities related to the earth-observing satellite program.
From page 131...
... The K-12 STEM education program in the headquarters Office of Education is to be commended for its efforts to inspire and engage students in science and engineering and to position its projects so that they can best serve students from underrepresented groups. The Science Mission Directorate programs are to be commended for their close integration with the science missions of NASA and for their use of partnerships to bring educational expertise into their work.


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