Education: Issues, Policies and Programs

The term "STEM education" refers to teaching and learning in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It typically includes educational activities across all grade levels- from pre-school to post-doctorate-in both formal (e.g., classrooms) and informal (e.g., afterschool programs) settings. The United States is widely believed to perform poorly in STEM education. However, the data paint a complicated picture as reviewed in chapter 1. Education's 21st Century program supports a broad array of activities outside the school day to improve student outcomes in high-poverty or low-performing K-12 schools. Chapter 2 examines (1) how 21st Century funds are awarded and used, (2) what is known about the effectiveness of these programs, (3) how education manages and uses program data to inform decision making, and (4) education''s technical assistance for evaluating and sustaining programs. Millions of children age 5 and under participate each year in federally funded preschool and other early learning programs, or receive federally supported child care. As reported in chapter 3, Federal support for early learning and child care has evolved over time to meet emerging needs. Chapter 4 examines the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which requires all states to have accountability systems that meet certain requirements, but gives states flexibility in how they design their systems. Organized sports have long been a part of the American high school experience for boys. However, the same has not been historically true for girls. Chapter 5 analyzes data from Education's Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) on whether public high schools offered sports, the number of sports and teams they offered, and student participation in sports by sex.