NSDL Community
Title: Where can I find information about educational standards for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)?
Information: There is a great deal of information regarding educational standards in general and STEM standards, in particular. The National Science Foundation,http://www.nsf.gov, provides current and historical documentation covering standards for STEM education at all levels. "Science and Engineering Indicators 2004" - The National Science Board released this document May 4, 2004. The Table of Contents allows you to access the chapters in either HTML or PDF formats. Contents include: Overview, Elementary and Secondary Education, Higher Education, State Indicators, as well as other material related to funding, research and development, public attitudes, etc. Within each chapter, links to pertinent documents are provided. http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind04/ An earlier document, issued 5 years ago by the National Science Board and National Science Foundation, may also be of interest. "Preparing Our Children: Math and Science Education in the National Interest," NSB 99-31, Issued March 1999, National Science Board and National Science Foundation. http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1999/nsb9931/start.htm The National Science Foundation sponsors the National Science Digital Library (NSDL),http://nsdl.org. The NSDL is a STEM Education Digital Library, which offers a means of searching for documents and websites and serves as an access point to high quality, reviewed STEM collections. A summary of NSDL's developments is available at: "National STEM Education Digital Library (NSDL): Summary of Developments to Date" - http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/ehr/due/programs/nsdl/NSDL-summary.asp Two separate searches of the NSDL, using the terms, standards and "educational standards" retrieved several pertinent resources. "PALS - Performance Assessment Links in Science" - "PALS is an on-line, standards-based, continually updated resource bank of science performance assessment tasks indexed via the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and various other standards frameworks," including national, state and curriculum-based frameworks. http://pals.sri.com/index.html "Developing Educational Standards for Schools" - Charles Hill explains that this is the most recent version of this website, "updated somewhat on June 1, 2004." Links to resource lists for "Standards by Subject" and "Standards by State" are provided. http://edstandards.org/Standards.html "Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities," June 2000. Chapter 7 deals with Science, Technology and Mathematics Standards. http://www.state.vt.us/educ/new/pdfdoc/pubs/framework.pdf "Didax Educational Resources" - This company's website offers numerous teacher resources, including "popular educational standards." Click on the "Resources" tab at the top of the page and, then, "Educational Standards." http://www.didax.com/standards/ "Standards" - Illuminations, a partnership of Marco Polo,http://www.marcopolo-education.org/, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM),http://www.nctm.org/, published this resource for grades Pre-K-12. Page was last updated August 2, 2004. http://illuminations.nctm.org/info/standards.asp "National Educational Technology Standards (NETS)," 2004 - Review this website for information on the use of the NETS program. Resource translations are available in English, Spanish and Mandarin. http://cnets.iste.org/ International Society for Technology in Education,http://www.iste.org/index.cfm, published this index page of links that facilitate navigation through the NETS audiences and topics. http://www.iste.org/standards/index.cfm The Educator's Reference Desk is also an excellent access point for references to STEM standards that are available for free on the Web, as well as article citations from the ERIC database that you can order for a fee. http://www.eduref.org/index.shtml For specific subjects, you will need to click on the subject area, such as "Computer Science," "Mathematics" or "Science," and then select "Instructional Issues. Each index provides links to further resources. Please note, however, that some of the resources may be superseded by more recent information. The question archives of the Educator's Reference Desk contain comprehensive responses, which were posted in December 2003, regarding educational standards. "Question: What information do you have regarding educational standards?" Response posted December 2002. http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printresponses.cgi/Virtual/Qa/archives/Evaluation/Standards/standards.html "Question: What information is available on technology standards (also known as benchmarking)?" Reponse posted December 2002. This response covers technology standards for teachers, students and school administrators. http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printresponses.cgi/Virtual/Qa/archives/Educational_Technology/Standards/techstandards.html ENC, the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse,http://www.enc.org/, lists 4 "national standards documents for math and science education." These cover efforts to define evaluation methods from 1993-2004. http://www.enc.org/professional/standards/national/ I hope this information is useful. Be sure to check with your local librarian for more assistance locating resources on this topic. Sincerely, The VRD Learning Center staff
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