Project Profile

From 2003 to 2012, the ITEST LRC at EDC, now STELAR, served as the NSF ITEST program's technical assistance and resource center.  It implemented collaboration and support opportunities to connect youth-based and comprehensive ITEST projects and to leverage lessons learned into new knowledge that was shared nationally.  The LRC also worked to tightenen the research/practice cycle and promote data-based decision-making.  It helped to create a national presence for the ITEST program as a primary resource for learning about, experiencing and using IT in STEM initiatives (PK-20 and workforce development).  It supported ITEST projects as they built the capacity of their participants to use technology as a tool for learning and working.  The LRC helped to build a community of practice through collaboration with individual ITEST projects, convened meetings that brought together the projects and their stakeholders, and facilitated numerous cross-project initiatives. It worked with the ITEST community of practice to synthesize, design and conduct research to leverage lessons learned, and to describe and quantify the successes of the ITEST program since its inception. In 2013, after a brief funding gap, EDC resumed its work as the resource center for NSF's ITEST program.  The new center is the STEM Learning and Research Center (STELAR) at EDC.