FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg has been named chair of a National Academies’ committee to develop benchmark and tracking tools for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.
Recognizing the need for indicators to document the current state of undergraduate STEM education at the national level and track improvements over time, the National Academy of Sciences has requested support for a national study. The initiative will be conducted by the Board on Science Education (BOSE) in collaboration with the Board on Higher Education and the Workforce (BHEW) and the Board on Testing and Assessment (BOTA).
“It’s a special privilege to be asked to lead some of the nation’s top experts who will identify national indicators for science, technology, engineering and math education at the university level,” said Rosenberg who oversaw the creation of the STEM Transformation Institute and Mastery Math Labin 2012. Both have had a dramatic impact on STEM education success at FIU. “This opportunity recognizes the leading national role being played by FIU faculty in STEM education for urban communities, and is an unprecedented opportunity to impact national STEM education in decades to come.”
The study, which will take approximately 2.5 years to complete, will focus on the first two years of undergraduate education and will be comprised of experts in the areas of higher education; STEM education; workforce and industry; and data analytics including Heather Belmont, dean of the School of Science at Miami Dade College. The goal is to guide the National Science Foundation (NSF), other federal agencies, private foundations and professional organizations on which measures they can track to gauge the status and quality of postsecondary STEM education.
The project is expected to catalyze a national conversation about appropriate outcomes for postsecondary STEM education and how best to reach them at scale. It will be of interest to a broad range of stakeholders including higher education institutions, state and national policy makers, government agencies, private foundations and industry.
