STEM Education 2026: Workshop on Assessment, Evaluation, and Accreditation

Minnesota State University, Mankato, Mankato MN

Investigators

Abstract

Improving and enhancing undergraduate STEM education is crucial to the economic well-being of the nation. Additionally, innovation is a critical piece of an effective STEM education of the future. In this project, Minnesota State University (a comprehensive, public institution) and Normandale Community College (a neighboring two-year college) will collaborate to host a workshop that will bring together participants and researchers from multiple STEM fields who are working to evaluate STEM education innovation. Workshop participants will examine barriers, both real and perceived, in program and institutional accreditation and examine how such barriers affect innovation for the STEM student experience. The synthesis of discipline-based perspectives on benefits and challenges related to assessment, evaluation, and accreditation in STEM education and their relationships will also be a focus of the workshop. The goal of the proposed workshop will be to examine how assessment, evaluation, and accreditation have allowed innovation in STEM education to develop, persist, and/or perish. A key contribution of this workshop to the improvement of STEM education will be bringing together participants from life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, and computing to discuss issues and challenges related to assessment, evaluation, and accreditation. Case studies from evidence-based effective STEM programs at institutions throughout the country will be included in the workshop. The workshop will provide a forum to examine these exemplary STEM undergraduate programs, including examining possible successes and failures in accreditation of such innovative programs. By synthesizing knowledge and experiences across STEM fields and disseminating this information broadly, this work will influence further discussions about ways to improve STEM education in the future. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.