What does the Trump administration’s 5-Year STEM Education Strategy mean for afterschool?

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine

On December 4, the White House released their five-year STEM education plan, entitled Charting a Course for Success: America’s Strategy for STEM Education. The plan is a required component of the America COMPETES Act of 2010, which mandates that the Committee on STEM (CoSTEM) and the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issue an updated plan every five years for STEM education in the United States.

Comparing the 2013 STEM education plan with the 2018 plan

On first read, the new STEM education strategy has a strong focus on workforce preparation and employability, which echoes much of what has been promoted through the Trump administration’s first two years regarding STEM education. Workforce preparation has been a common theme over the last few years, including an executive order from President Trump to double the amount the federal government spends on apprenticeship programs. Additionally, the plan includes a strong emphasis on the role of STEM ecosystems in engaging and connecting formal and informal learning, along with industry and corporate partners to increase STEM education opportunities in communities across the United States.

The new five-year STEM plan is also noticeably shorter in length than its predecessor, opting for an approach that focuses more on setting guiding principles and objectives for the federal government regarding STEM than specific pathways and directives for agencies to implement. This broad approach still provides an opportunity for the afterschool and summer field to draw connections to the goals of the new plan and show how afterschool and summer programs can fit into the efforts during the coming years for STEM education. The opportunities that offered the clearest connections are outlined below, with initial ideas on how afterschool and summer programs can be integrated.

Ecosystems of STEM learning

The plan includes a heavy emphasis on promoting the need for ecosystems of STEM learning as an approach to STEM education. With informal STEM education, including afterschool and summer programs, involved in many established STEM ecosystems across the county, this acknowledgment further reinforces the role of informal STEM learning in providing opportunities for young people to develop an interest in STEM subjects. Over the coming years, especially as the number of STEM ecosystems continues to expand, afterschool and summer programs can and should be an integral foundation of the ecosystems serving communities across the country.

Develop and enrich strategic partnerships

One of the primary pathways the plan lays out for achieving the goals of advancing STEM education is through strengthening existing partnerships and developing and encouraging new relationships between education, employers, and the community. Particular attention is paid to blending formal and informal STEM learning among the education community, which provides the opportunity for the afterschool and summer field to elevate successful examples of strong partnerships between community providers, including afterschool programs, and the schools they serve. Strong relationships between afterschool and the school day are a hallmark of quality afterschool opportunities, and the focus on strengthening partnerships in the plan acknowledges the importance of informal learning environments in the overall STEM education plan for our country.

Apprenticeships

Given the administration’s strong interest in supporting apprenticeships, it’s no surprise to see apprenticeships featured heavily in the plan. Afterschool and summer programs can play an important role in getting more youth interested and participating in apprenticeship opportunities. Earlier this fall, ExpandED Schools, formerly The After-School Corporation (TASC), was awarded an Education and Innovation Research grant from the Department of Education to provide high school students with a 60-hour STEM-focused apprenticeship opportunity in students’ areas of interest. Upon completion of the apprenticeship, students will participate in a 150-hour paid internship to work with younger youth to teach their newly developed skills and content in summer programs across New York City.

Next steps

Now that the plan has been released, the next steps for federal agencies will be to create plans for how their agencies will implement the strategy. Agencies are provided 120 days from the release of the plan (December 4, 2018) to create their own implementation plans, meaning advocacy efforts to help shape these plans are starting now. In June of this year, the Afterschool STEM Hub provided input to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) before the plan was drafted, which included recommendations for incorporating afterschool and summer programs into the overarching STEM education plan. Our work during the next 4 months will reflect most of what was included in these recommendations, with further explanation on how agencies can promote and elevate informal STEM learning into their STEM education efforts.

This new plan is intended to serve as the STEM communities’ “North Star” over the coming years, providing direction to formal and informal education, along with industry partners and government agencies, as they work to increase STEM educational opportunities for all. Exposure to STEM fields can happen in many different environments, and elevating the role that afterschool and summer STEM programs play will remain our mission during the coming months and years.