The world is awash in data on student performance in鈥攁nd attitudes toward鈥攕cience, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning. The problem is that none of that information is particularly easy to find, and it鈥檚 really hard to compile bits and pieces into a complete picture.
Now the National Math and Science Initiative, a nonprofit that offers districts training on improving STEM learning, is trying to fill in the gaps. It鈥檚 created a new tool to make it easier to look at patterns that affect how students do in those fields.
Using its , unveiled earlier this week, you can quickly look up things like whether students in each state have access to science lab equipment; students鈥� attitudes toward STEM; whether a state鈥檚 math testing matches the high bar set by the National Assessment of Educational Progress; and whether teacher exams require teachers to demonstrate content in a STEM field.
In a way, it鈥檚 a bit like a more focused version of Education Week鈥榮 own Quality Counts state reports, which look at a number of indicators to give a sense of which states offer students the best chance for success over the course of a lifetime.
For now, the STEM index is limited to state indicators, but it will start to include local and even school-based measures later this year. The tool does not issue states an overall score or grades, and that鈥檚 on purpose.
鈥淲hen you get into grades, the competition between states and all that is not the objective,鈥� said Bernard Harris, NMSI鈥檚 executive director. 鈥淚t鈥檚 to raise the visibility of where the needs are, where the gaps are, and bringing in our programs or other partners.鈥�
The index鈥檚 origins date back to 2017, when NMSI 鈥攑laces where students lack sufficient opportunities for learning in those subjects. Part of the process was developing a framework for what constitutes factors that contribute to good preparation鈥攖hings like well-trained teachers, inclusive enrollment practices in advanced classes, and so forth.
Expansion Coming
This summer, NMSI will start to add a bunch of new data sources that will allow for a look down at the level of school districts and even individual schools.
Much of that data will come from the U.S. Department鈥檚 granular office for civil rights data collection鈥攆or example, whether students have access to advanced coursetaking. That鈥檚 an important addition because research indicates that rigorous coursework, including in the
In all, NMSI officials said, the tool will incorporate data from some 114 different sources of public data, including NAEP data, ACT scores, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other Education Department collections.
For now, the index is still in its beta phase, and NMSI is looking for lots of feedback on how to make it even more useful鈥攁s well as partners that could help add more functionality, or who even might be interested in sharing proprietary data that could be uploaded into the tool. So be sure to check it out and send your thoughts to customerservice@nms.org.
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