Dr. Anngienetta R. JohnsonDr. Anngienetta R. JohnsonSenior Policy Advisor for EducationSenior Policy Advisor for Education

NASA Strategyfor

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education

Presentation toUNH Outreach Scholars Academy

April 7, 2006

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CRITICAL SHORTAGES

The United States faces a critical shortage of young people entering science and technology careers.

“The workforce required for the United States to prosper as a nation is not being trained adequately. Our current level of achievement in science and technology relative to other countries places America at risk economically and from a national security perspective.” Report of the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, June 2004

This shortage impacts our ability to sustain economic vitality, technological leadership and security.

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Problem Report: RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM

“Having reviewed trends in the united States and abroad, the committee is deeply concerned that the scientific and technological building blocks critical to our economic leadership

are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength.”National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine

• Increase America’s talent pool by vastly improving K–12 science and mathematics education.

• Sustain and strengthen the nation’s traditional commitment to long-term basic research that has the potential to be transformational to maintain the flow of new ideas that fuel the economy, provide security, and enhance the quality of life.

• Make the United States the most attractive setting in which to study and perform research so that we can develop, recruit, and retain the best and brightest students, scientists, and engineers from within the United States and throughout the world.

• Ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world to innovate; invest in downstream activities such as manufacturing and marketing; and create high-paying jobs based on innovation by such actions as modernizing the patent system, realigning tax policies to encourage innovation, and ensuring affordable broadband access.

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What is the Nation Doing About the Shortages?

Protect America’s Competitive Edge (PACE) Act implements 20 recommendation in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm. The PACE-Education Act would establish:

1. Baccalaureate Degrees in math and science with concurrent teacher certification.

2. A Master program in STEM for current science and math teachers.3. NSF scholarships for students who become science and math teachers.4. NSF fellowships for science and math teachers who teach in high-need areas or

who complete master's degrees and take on leadership activities.5. Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate training for teachers and

incentives for students.6. A national clearinghouse on mathematics and science teaching materials.

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What is the Nation Doing About the Shortages?American Competitiveness Initiative commits $5.9 Billion in FY2007 to

increase investments in research and development, strengthen education, and encourage entrepreneurship. “The bedrock of America’s competitiveness is a

well-educated and skilled workforce.”

1. Federal investment in cutting-edge basic research whose quality is bolstered by merit review and that focuses on fundamental discoveries to produce valuable and marketable technologies, processes, and techniques;

2. Federal investment in the tools of science—facilities and instruments that enable discovery and development—particularly unique, expensive, or large-scale tools beyond the means of a single organization;

3. A system of education through the secondary level that equips each new generation of Americans with the educational foundation for future study and inquiry in technical subjects and that inspires and sustains their interest;

4. Institutions of higher education that provide American students access to world-class education and research opportunities in mathematics, science, engineering, and technology;

5. Workforce training systems that provide more workers the opportunity to pursue the training and other services necessary to improve their skills and better compete in the 21st century.

6. Immigration policies that will continue to enable the United States to attract the best and brightest scientific minds from around the world to work alongside the best and brightest American scientists;

7. Private sector investment in research and development that enables the translation of fundamental discoveries into the production of useful and marketable technologies, processes, and techniques;

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What is the NASA Doing About the Shortages?

NASA Education Restructured. “Education is critical to the success of the Agency’s mission.”

Communication Plan developed to more effectively reach out to students.

Partnerships and Collaborations built to extend our reach to students.

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Direction from Administrator

Map to the Agency Strategic Plan

Clearly defined and coordinated portfolio approach

Clearly defined roles and responsibilities to promote coordination

Well-defined evaluation plan

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The NASA Education portfolio is guided by three desired outcomes:Outcome 1: Contribute to the development of the STEM workforce in disciplines needed to

achieve NASA’s strategic goals, through a portfolio of investments.

Outcome 2: Attract and retain students in STEM disciplines through a progression of educational opportunities for students, teachers and faculty.

Outcome 3: Build strategic partnerships and linkages between STEM formal and informal education providers that promote STEM literacy and awareness of NASA’s mission.

Education Outcomes Aligned with Agency Strategic Plan

Developing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)Workforce

Strengthening the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)Pipeline

Public Benefit

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Clearly Defined and Coordinated Portfolio Approach

Employ

Engage

Educate

Inspire

Elementary/ Secondary Education

Informal Education

Higher Education

Outcome 2: Attract and retain students in STEM disciplines through a progression of educational opportunities for students, teachers and faculty.

Outcome 1: Contribute to the development of the STEM workforce in disciplines needed to achieve NASA’s strategic goals, through a portfolio of investments.

Outcome 3: Build strategic partnerships and linkages between STEM formal and informal education providersthat promote STEM literacy and awareness of NASA’s mission.

Principles/Criteria Relevance DiversityNASA

ContentEvaluation Continuity Partnerships/

Sustainability

Cul

tivat

e D

iver

sity

of W

orkf

orce

D

isci

plin

es a

nd P

ract

ition

ers

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NASA Agency-wide Education Investment -- FY06 President’s Budget

Employ

Engage

Educate

Inspire

Higher Education

$135 M 46%

$102 M35%

$58 M 19%

* Includes three projects previously aligned with MUREP

Pre-Earmarks Alignment $295M

$75 M26%

$128 M 45%

$82 M 29%

Includes earmarks assigned to Office of Education; reallocation of resources by ARMD, SOMD and ESMD

Post-Earmarks Alignment $285M

Informal Education

Elementary/ Secondary Education*

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Examples of FY06 Projects Mapped to Strategic Framework

Elementary/ Secondary Education

Informal Education

Higher Education

AESPExplorer Schools

Mars Student Imaging

C-9 ProgramMoonbuggy

FIRST Robotics

URCUSRP

GSRPFAR

NAFP

NPPJPFP

Space Grant

EPSCOR

URC

C-9 ProgramMoonbuggy

USRP

GSRPFAR

NAFP

NPPJPFP

Space Grant

EPSCOR

Outcome 1: Contribute to the development of the STEM workforcein disciplines needed to achieve NASA’s strategic goals, through a portfolio of investments.

NSTA

Digital Learning Network Solar System

Ambassadors

PSTI SEMAAEducator

Workshops

AESPExplorer Schools

Mars Student Imaging

FIRST Robotics

Outcome 2: Attract and retain students in STEM disciplines through a progression of educational opportunities for students, teachers and faculty.

Conferences NASA TV IMAX Movies Museum Sci Ctrs

NASA Portal Public TVCurriculum

Support

NASA ConnectVisitor Centers

GSUSAExplorer Institutes

Outcome 3: Build strategic partnerships and linkages between STEM formal and informal education providersthat promote STEM literacy and awareness of NASA’s mission.

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Aerospace Education Services Program – AESP serves community by enhancing awareness and understanding of the scientific and technological advances growing out of NASA’s missions of research, discovery and exploration. AESP providesassistance to educators in updating science, mathematics, geography and technology curricula and in utilizing new and evolving instructional technology and teaching strategies. Specialists play an integral role in providing sustained educational support to the NASA Explorer Schools.

NASA Explorer Schools - establishes a three-year partnership between NASA and school teams, consisting of teachers and education administrators from diverse communities across the country. Focusing on underserved populations, NES joins educators, students, and families in sustained involvement with NASA's research, discoveries, and missions. It is designed for education communities at the 4-9 grade levels to help middle schools improve teaching and learning in STEM through significant structural (professional development, stipends, grants) and curricular supports based on NASA’s resources.

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GROWING THE NASA-GSUSA RELATIONSHIP THROUGH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Two NASA Explorer Institutes have been conducted in collaboration with the GSUSA. An MOU was also developed. This is an important partnership that has provided NASA with an opportunity to offer engaging STEM experiences to the Nation’s girls and women.

GSUSA has over 2.8 million girl members, 962,000 adult members, and 315 regional councils.

In 2005, 54 GSUSA trainers participated in professional development workshops related to earth and space science topics. These trainers collectively reported implementing 72 local and regional Girl Scout council events directly reaching 6967 participants. Further events are expected.

In 2006, the model was extended to include six NASA Centers with GSUSA teams representing ten Girl Scout Councils. Collectively, the 10 councils represented over 154,000 girls and over 63,000 adult members. This professional development workshop provided thematic content from the NASA Centers who participated, developed effective strategies for implementing STEM programs using national and local NASA resources as well as Girl Scout delivery systems, and produced action plans for future collaborations and joint events.

Future collaborations with GSUSA will continue to use this model to 1) raise the comprehension and interest of science-related topics among girls, leaders, and leader-trainers, and 2) encourage girls and women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

NASA EXPLORER INSTITUTES

NASA Administrator’s Fellowship Program

The NASA Administrator’s Fellowship Program (NAFP) enhances the professional development of NASA employees and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) faculty at Minority Institutions (MIs).

OUTCOMES

71 NAFP fellows (41 NASA Employees, 30 Minority Institution Faculty)

NAFPs ASSISTED IN ESTABLISHINGTwo University Research Centers (URC)

A NASA SEMAA Program at a Hispanic Serving InstitutionAn Engineering Program at a Tribal College/University

Assisted an Historically Black College/University and Tribal College/University with winning a curriculum improvement grant

NAFP’s received two Faculty Awards for Research

Education Portfolio Coordination Framework

Funding/Program ReqsReporting

Centers and External Partners

• Program/Project Management and Execution

• Performance Data• Evaluation• Reporting

Data

ARMD, ESMD, SOMD, SMD

Performance Data

• Performance Goals• Direction• Funding• Evaluation• Reporting

Framework/Principles

Workforce Needs

HQ

Cross-Agency

• Strategic Goals/Objectives/Outcomes

• Consultation• Coordination• Cognizance• Assessment

Content

Implementation

Policy

AccountabilityAssistant Administrator for Education

Education Coordinating Committee• Office of Education• Mission Directorates• Centers• Functional Offices

Programs/ProjectsActivities

Office of Education

Center Education Offices

Chair

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Well-defined

Evaluation Guidelines, Procedures

and Benchmarks

Validate Assessment

Results

Agency Performance

Report processReport

Performance Results

Centers

Report Performance

Results

External Partners

Review and Validate

Performance Results

MD/OE

Aggregate and Report

Outcome Metrics

OE

Strategic Portfolio

Assessment

ECC

Review Programs/Projects,

Education Outcomes, and Education

Portfolio

External Review Panel(s)

NASAOMB

CongressStakeholders

Implementers

Evaluation Review Assessment

AA for Education

Well-defined Evaluation Component

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Communications Plan to More Effectively Reach Out to StudentsSTRATEGY “Experience NASA’s Exploration Message”• Develop experiential campaign that will provide learning opportunities for varying age groups at successive levels of

involvement (INSPIRE, ENGAGE, EDUCATE, AND EMPLOY).

APPROACH• NATIONAL AND MINI-EXPLORATION EDUCATION CAMPAIGNS

– Education resources and tailored experiences delivered to different audiences • TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY

– Utilize major national and international events as opportunities to share NASA content.– Opportunities include Winter Olympics, Great Moonbuggy Race and FIRST Regional Competitions

• EDUCATION VISION TOOLKIT– Multimedia, Print, and Other communication resources to support national and mini-campaign.– Applications include NASA Visitor Centers, NASA Educator Resource Centers, Workshops/Conferences

• INSIDE NASA EDUCATION TAB– Internal communication is crucial.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS• “NASA Brain Bites and Learning Launchers”

2006 Winter Olympic athletics explain what their sports have in common with space exploration. (web, podcast, radio/tv spots)

• In 2005, public downloaded web content more than 125 million times, an average of more than 340,000times a day and approximately 22 million total page views of educational content, an average of over 1.82 million per month.

Hannah Teter, US Snowboarder2006 Olympic Gold Medal Winner

Communication Plan: Page Designed for Students

Specific Resources

for the Target Group

Sections Broken into Specific Grade Levels

Formal Partnerships

(~130)

Potential Partnerships

(~150)

Federal & StateGovernmentPartnerships

Ongoing Collaboration

(~150)

NASAEducation

World Book

American Council on Education (ACE)

Civil Air Patrol

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science

and Technology (FIRST)

Smithsonian Institution

Nintendo of America

Apple Learning Interchange

Univision

National Guard

Reader’s Digest

America Online

NASSMC

US Naval Observatory

Dept of Education

NSF

Partnerships and Collaborations to Extend Our Reach to Students

Scott Foresman PublisherColumbia Pictures and

Houghton Mifflin

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Building Effective Partnerships to Support NASA Education

• Formed a planning group• Goals

– Identify new segments of the education community that may either be “unpenetrated”

– Identify next generation education product/projects that are supportive or complementary

– Create new models for STEM education– Determine geographical expansion methodologies for

projects• Activities

– Host a Summit

The success of NASA’s education portfolio depends upon strategic planning across the Agency. Close coordination is required among the Office of Education, Mission Directorates, Centers, the Office of Human Capital Management, the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, and other functional offices to ensure that workforce requirements are identified and met, and that education efforts are aligned and focused on building the future workforce through strengthening the pipeline in STEM disciplines and building strategic partnerships and linkages across all components of education.

NASA’s success in implementing its education portfolio is determined by the Agency’s ability to meet or surpass the Outcomes.