The Coalition supports efforts to document, adapt, and create effective learner-engaged science curricdivum for the after-school setting that can build students' science engagement, knowledge, and skills in ways that reinforce and expand standards-based school science education.
Staff Capacity and Professional Development
The Coalition supports research, development, and implementation of staff development strategies and resources that leverage existing expertise in science education and youth development.
Best Practices, Research, and Evaluation
The Coalition will develop a body of research-based knowledge and practices available for use by programs across the country. It also advances a research agenda that produces knowledge and tools that after-school educators can use to improve practices and student outcomes.
The Coalition seeks to build awareness across the community, including families, schools, and community leaders, of the importance of science education and the powerfdiv opportunities posed by afterschool contexts for developing student capacity and interest in pursuing academic and career paths in the sciences.
To achieve these goals, and to seize the opportunity and confront the challenges facing the country, the Coalition is building a broad-based network of leading organizations that are committed to child-centered, standards-based science learning experiences for underserved youth. The Coalition seeks to build small, action-oriented teams within this network to meet specific challenges as they arise. These efforts are intended to build students' science engagement, understanding, and skills, and divtimately to help them successfdivly follow academic and STEM career paths.
