Exploring the Relationship Between Continuous Improvement Culture and Afterschool STEM Program Quality

探索持续改进文化与课外 STEM 项目质量之间的关系

• 批准号: 1906490
• 负责人: Patrik Lundh
• 金额: $ 199.89万
• 依托单位: SRI International
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1906490&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Exploring; Relationship; Between; Continuous; Improvement

The role of afterschool programs in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning ecosystem has grown over the past two decades, which has led to increasing efforts to support and improve program quality. These efforts include developing STEM programs and curricula, creating standards for facilitating informal STEM learning experiences, building networks of support, and developing tools for assessment and evaluation. However, such efforts may have limited impact in terms of ongoing quality improvement. STEM curricula vary in disciplinary focus, quality and may not apply to local contexts and needs. Many afterschool programs resort to using simple STEM kits or online activities rather than rigorous curricula with support for educators. The project will study how the California Department of Education's (CDE) efforts to change organizational culture to support continuous quality improvement (CQI) have affected the offerings and quality of afterschool STEM in the state's more than 4,500 publicly funded afterschool sites. The EPISTEMIC project will contribute new research findings on how CQI can increase access to higher quality STEM learning opportunities for underserved youth. Even more important, the project will provide new insights on how organizational culture affects participation in and implementation of afterschool CQI. The team will use an organizational theory framework and a mixed methods approach to conduct three research activities: (1) Describe the organizational context through interviews, participant observations, and artifact analysis to map and describe the overall support system as a context for understanding organizational culture change; (2) Describe change over time in organizational culture, CQI processes, and STEM program offerings and quality through surveys/interviews of afterschool youth, staff, directors, and grantee representatives; and (3) Generate explanations about the relationships between organizational culture, CQI, and STEM quality in different contexts through in depth case studies. Bringing organizational culture, CQI, and STEM offerings and quality into shared focus is the most important intellectual contribution of this work. Organizational theory's sensemaking concept will guide analyses to describe, exemplify, and generate theoretical explanations for patterns in organizational culture, CQI, and STEM program changes, with attention to relevant contextual factors.Continuous quality improvement provides tools for afterschool STEM staff to identify needs and ways to improve. The EPISTEMIC study will contribute recommendations on the systemic, organizational, and cultural aspects of improvement strategies relevant to policymakers, funders, support providers, and afterschool organizations in California, as well as other state or nongovernmental support systems around the country. The study will also produce CQI guidelines for reflecting on and incorporating changes to organizational culture as part of CQI for afterschool staff and site directors. These will be helpful for practitioners around the country. The study's focus on three organizational contexts -- school district, national afterschool, and local afterschool -- will extend the relevance of the findings and recommendations, which will be disseminated through forums, workshops, and articles in practice and policy-oriented publications. The study will also benefit the research community by providing a framework and methods for studying organizational culture and CQI. The findings on the relationships between organizational culture, CQI, and STEM offerings and outcomes will provide a foundation for further research on how these relate to STEM learning outcomes for youth. EPISTEMIC is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

课外项目在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)学习生态系统中的作用在过去20年中不断增长，这导致了支持和提高项目质量的努力不断增加。这些努力包括开发STEM方案和课程，创建促进非正式STEM学习经验的标准，建立支持网络，以及开发评估和评估工具。然而，就持续的质量改进而言，这些努力的影响可能是有限的。STEM课程在学科重点和质量方面各不相同，可能不适用于当地的背景和需要。许多课外项目求助于使用简单的STEM工具包或在线活动，而不是在教育工作者的支持下提供严格的课程。该项目将研究加州教育部(CDE)改变组织文化以支持持续质量改进(CQI)的努力如何影响该州4500多个公共资助课后地点的课后STEM的提供和质量。该认知项目将就CQI如何为缺乏服务的青年增加获得更高质量的STEM学习机会提供新的研究成果。更重要的是，该项目将为组织文化如何影响课外CQI的参与和实施提供新的见解。团队将使用组织理论框架和混合方法进行三项研究活动：(1)通过访谈、参与者观察和人工产物分析来描述组织背景，以绘制和描述整个支持系统作为理解组织文化变化的背景；(2)通过对课外青年、员工、董事和受赠人代表的调查/访谈，描述组织文化、CQI过程和STEM项目提供和质量随时间的变化；以及(3)通过深入的案例研究，解释不同背景下组织文化、CQI和STEM质量之间的关系。将组织文化、CQI、STEM产品和质量纳入共同关注的焦点是这项工作最重要的智力贡献。组织理论的感官概念将指导分析，以描述、例证和生成对组织文化、CQI和STEM计划变更的模式的理论解释，并关注相关的上下文因素。持续的质量改进为课后STEM工作人员提供工具，以确定需求和改进方法。这项认知研究将就改进战略的系统、组织和文化方面提出建议，这些改进战略与加州的政策制定者、资助者、支持提供者和课后组织以及全国各地的其他州或非政府支持系统有关。这项研究还将为课外工作人员和现场主管制定CQI指南，以反映和纳入组织文化的变化，作为CQI的一部分。这些都将对全国各地的从业者有所帮助。这项研究的重点是三个组织背景--学区、全国课后和地方课后--将扩大调查结果和建议的相关性，这些调查结果和建议将通过论坛、讲习班和实践中的文章以及面向政策的出版物传播。这项研究还将为研究组织文化和CQI提供一个框架和方法，从而使研究界受益。关于组织文化、CQI和STEM产品和结果之间关系的研究结果将为进一步研究这些因素与青年STEM学习结果之间的关系提供基础。认知是由推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划资助的，该计划旨在促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和发展的新方法和基于证据的理解。这包括为扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验提供多种途径，在非正式环境中推进对STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及加深参与者对更深层次学习的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。