Iowa Ag Connection - Report: Positive Results in 2015-16 Iowa STEM Evaluation

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Report: Positive Results in 2015-16 Iowa STEM Evaluation
Iowa Ag Connection - 08/23/2016

Monday morning, Gov. Terry Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, Executive Director of the Governor's STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Advisory Council Dr. Jeff Weld and Waukee second-grade teacher Heather Anderson, accompanied by five of her students, discussed results from the 2015-2016 independent evaluation that measures the success of the STEM Council's efforts to advance STEM education and STEM economic development across the state.

Highlights of the 306-page Iowa STEM evaluation include:

-- Students who participated in the high-quality STEM education programs the council delivers to students statewide - called STEM Scale-Up Programs - scored an average 7 percentage points higher in National Percentile Rank on the Iowa Assessments in mathematics, 6 percentage points higher in science and 4 percentage points higher in reading than peers.

-- The percent of students who said they were very interested in someday working in Iowa was 45 percent of STEM Scale-Up Program participants compared to 39 percent of students statewide.

-- Nine in 10 Iowans thought STEM education should be a priority in their local school districts, but only 46 percent said it actually is a priority.

-- 46 Corporate Partners contributed $559,239 in 2015-2016, a 20 percent increase in private investments over 2014-2015.

"As co-chair of the STEM Council for the past five years, I've seen how the growing emphasis on STEM is transforming learning across the state," said Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds at the Governor's press conference this morning. "STEM provides students with knowledge, confidence and problem-solving skills that will help them succeed in their personal and professional lives. STEM provides educators with professional development that redefines the classroom, including working with business partners, so what students learn is more relevant and linked to the real world."

In addition to these council-driven gains, evaluators also found more students are taking Advanced Placement (AP) STEM courses, more females are pursuing STEM degrees at Iowa's four-year public universities, more high school teachers are earning a STEM endorsement and more students are aspiring to earn a STEM degree compared to five years ago.

"This annual report provides vital information for the STEM Council to determine areas of strength for the program as well as areas for improvement," said Kemin Industries President and CEO Dr. Chris Nelson, co-chair of the STEM Council. "The results will shape our programming and develop stronger connections as STEM education efforts continue to move forward in our state."

This independent evaluation is conducted by an inter-university consortium of Iowa State University's Research Institute for Studies in Education (RISE), University of Iowa's Iowa Testing Program and the University of Northern Iowa's Center for Social and Behavioral Research (CSBR). Key findings of this year's report range from measuring public attitudes and awareness of STEM to interest and achievement among Iowa students.

The evaluation is funded in part by the STEM Council and a grant from the National Science Foundation.

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