From Common Measures to Measures in Common: A Convening to Enhance Measurement of Outcomes of Afterschool STEM Programs

在过去的十年里，向年轻人提供科学活动的课外项目的数量有了显着的增长。衡量这些方案的质量和对青年学习的贡献对课外组织和支持它们的社区，包括参与的青年及其家庭都很重要。为了满足社区内所有年轻人的范围和不断变化的兴趣和能力，必然会有各种类型的课外科学方案编制。这样的编程可以根据重点(例如，植物学、天文学、计算机科学、工程学或动物学)、结构(例如，动手、基于地点、在线或与当地行业合作)和其他因素而变化。在整个编程范围内，为学生提供了不同的预期学习目标和机会。出于这些原因，需要一系列的测量工具来监控广泛的课外科学项目的质量和结果。为了探索课外科学项目中使用的评估和测量工具的现状，华盛顿大学将与课后联盟和国家女孩合作组织合作，为课后STEM领导人、研究人员和评估者设计并主办一次会议。该项目由推进非正式STEM学习计划(AISL)资助，该计划旨在促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发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，推进对非正式环境中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。这次会议以课外组织的计划优先事项和战略为基础。会议的目标是：(A)阐明和绘制课后STEM计划的预期结果范围；(B)确定现有的测量和评估工具如何与预期结果相对应；以及(C)确定现有工具中的重叠、互补性和差距，以便为(I)从业者如何以及为什么选择当前的评估工具提供指导；(Ii)研究人员关于未来工具开发的方向。具体的召集产品包括：*有关学生学习、教育工作者能力、计划质量、家庭影响、学习生态系统连通性的课后计划寻求实现的结果范围的详细、直观的表示(“预期结果图”)；*与这些结果相一致的当前评估工具的分类，并解释它们在方法和理论上如何重叠或区分；*确定需要进一步工作的领域，包括进一步规范学习结果和未来评估工具的开发。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。

Over the last decade there has been significant growth in the number of afterschool programs that offer science activities to youth. Measuring the quality and contributions of these programs to youth learning is important to both the afterschool organizations and the communities that support them, including participating youth and their families. To address the range and evolving interests and capacities of all young people within a community, there are, by necessity, a wide range of types of afterschool science programming. Such programming may vary by focus (e.g., botany, astronomy, computer science, engineering, or zoology), structure (e.g., hands-on, place-based, on-line, or in partnership with local industry) and other factors. Across the range of programming, there are different intended learning goals and opportunities for students. For these reasons, a range of measurement tools are needed to monitor the quality and outcomes of wide range of afterschool science programs. To explore the current state of evaluation and measurement tools for use in afterschool science programs, the University of Washington, in partnership with the Afterschool Alliance and the National Girls Collaborative, will design and host a conference for afterschool STEM leaders, researchers, and evaluators. This project 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 conference is grounded in the programmatic priorities and strategies of afterschool organizations. The goals of the conference are to (a) articulate and map the range of intended outcomes of afterschool STEM programs; (b) identify how existing measurement and evaluation tools map on to intended outcomes; and (c) identify overlaps, complementarities, and gaps in the available tools in order to provide guidance to (i) practitioners on how and why to select current evaluation tools and (ii) researchers on directions for future tool development. Tangible convening products include: *A detailed, visual representation ("intended outcomes map") of the range of outcomes afterschool programs are seeking to achieve, related to student learning, educator capacity, program quality, family impacts, learning ecosystems connectivity; *A taxonomy of current evaluation instruments aligned to these outcomes, with an explanation of how they overlap or differentiate both methodologically and theoretically; *The identification of the areas where further work is needed, including further specification of learning outcomes and future development of evaluation tools.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.