Within this complex, disconnected system, the challenge becomes how an innovation that is successful in a single location or for a particular group of students can be expanded to encompass the multiple dimensions of scale. Scaling is commonly understood to mean “spread;” while reaching more students in more places is an important aspect of this work, the report examines scale across spread, depth, sustainability, and ownership. [Learn More]
The report contains a compendium, developed by the Education Development Center, that identifies and reviews promising, evidence-based Pre-K–12 STEM education programs that have scaled and demonstrated evidence of impact. This compendium informed the report and illuminated some key characteristics of innovations that appear to facilitate scaling.
Innovations with a strong core program with room for adaptation to different contexts and learners are more likely to scale.
Compendium Examples:
Strategic CSforALL Resource & Implementation Planning Tool (SCRIPT) utilizes a framework to guide strategic planning for school and district leadership teams to implement computer science education. They work with school and district leadership teams to plan for K–12 implementation and needed capacity.
OpenSciEd Middle School Science is a comprehensive middle school science curriculum designed for the Next Generation Science Standards that empowers students to ask questions, design investigations, and solutions, and figure out the interesting and puzzling world. Intentional work with states allows them to tailor the program to meet the needs of different states and understand implementation in a variety of settings and with diverse learners. Furthermore, they work with materials distributors and organizations that support teacher professional learning to help scale their efforts.
An innovation is more likely to scale when the goals and practices of the program align with the goals, priorities, and existing practices of the adopting organization or individual (e.g., district, school, educator, or out-of-school setting).
Compendium Examples:
Amplify Science is a comprehensive Pre-K–8 science curriculum program designed for the Next Generation Science Standards. In this phenomenon-based and literacy-rich curriculum students take on authentic roles as scientists and engineers figuring out phenomena to solve real-world problems. This project aligns with national standards, which has contributed to nation-wide scale and adoption by large school districts.
STEM for our Youngest Learners began with Ramps and Pathways, a framework for a student-centered, inquiry-based approach to STEM that engages young children in sensemaking as they design solutions to self-defined engineering problems. The project team has utilized this and other funding to grow their program by reaching new audiences and developing additional activities. They focus on building educator capacity and providing a flexible program that is aligned with standards.
Professional development or other activities that build the capacities of individuals or organizations to implement the innovation are key.
Compendium Examples:
Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA) is a year-long science professional learning program for K–12 teachers, integrating video-based analysis of practice and a focus on student thinking. STeLLA steadily grew the project over time through additional funding and partnerships. This allowed them to test out their model in different contexts. They also utilize expert mentors to provide in-person, online, or hybrid teacher professional learning experiences.
Making Sense of SCIENCE (MSS) builds strong STEM education communities and helps transform classrooms into places that fuel curiosity, nurture collaboration, and prepare students to be the problem solvers of tomorrow. The program provides leadership development, professional learning, and instructional resources on a wide range of K–12 topics, to meet the needs of teachers, instructional coaches, administrators, and other district and state-level leaders.
Partnerships between an entity outside of the Pre-K–12 system—such as a university or a non-profit—and districts, schools, and teachers can provide developers with in-depth insights into how contextual factors influence implementation and outcomes, guiding subsequent improvements.
Compendium Examples:
The Exploratorium California K12 Science Leader Network has developed a professional network of over 1,100 science education leaders across California who bring high-quality science professional development and advocacy to over 100,000 teachers statewide. Leaders in the network access a constellation of professional learning that begins with a multi-day core institute and includes series of stand-alone virtual and in-person workshops, communities of practice, and access to high-quality teaching and teacher leadership resources.
Tiny Techies professional development supports Pre-K–2nd grade teachers with training on foundational computer science concepts and how they relate to some of our youngest learners. Partnerships with state agencies and school districts have aided scaling. Since it seems that they do all of the training themselves, this could impact their ability to scale widely.
Based on findings and conclusions from the report, the committee developed a set of recommendations for federal, state and local actors. These recommendations from the report include:
The National Science Foundation should develop a new generation of Pre-K–12 STEM education systemic initiatives with the goal of building infrastructure, capacity, and expertise to harvest promising evidence-based innovations, prepare them for wider implementation in new settings, and fund backbone organizations to organize the resources and support systems needed to carry out the implementations in schools.
The U.S. Department of Education should allocate funding for teacher professional learning and development in all STEM disciplines to include science, technology, engineering, mathematics, computer science, and other emerging STEM-focused subjects such as data science.
School and district leaders should adopt a continuous improvement framework, emphasizing iterative assessment and refinement of strategies to meet the evolving educational landscape. This involves a cycle of planning, implementing, evaluating, and adjusting, with engagement of pertinent individuals to ensure ongoing relevancy.
To understand the implementation and scaling of Pre-K–12 STEM education innovations, state and district partners should develop data systems that capture information about opportunity to learn, including time for instruction, allocation of resources and funding, access to and enrollment in Pre-K–12 STEM education innovations, and progress toward a highly qualified, robust STEM teacher workforce.
Leaders of local and regional K-12 systems should work to strengthen learning opportunities in STEM education among key actors in the STEM education learning ecosystem (e.g., teachers, school/district leaders, school board leaders, teacher educators, professional development providers, universities and colleges, museums, non-profits, families, etc.) with an emphasis on building relational connections among communities and sharing knowledge.