ITEST Proposal Development

This document is STELAR’s high-level summary of the required elements of your ITEST proposal.

As the resource center for the NSF ITEST Program, STELAR assists both ITEST grantees and those interested in submitting a proposal. Each year we host solicitation webinars on behalf of NSF, which allow program officers to provide direct information and answer questions from participants. While the webinars are crucial to understanding the requirements of the program, we would like to highlight additional tools, resources, and information that are freely available to assist proposal writers.

When describing underserved and underrepresented groups in STEM education research there has traditionally been a deficits-based approach, focusing on the challenges that new interventions will help the students overcome. While it is essential that your proposal addresses student challenges, it is equally important to also thoroughly describe the ways in which your work will incorporate strengths-based approaches. The latest research has shown that strengths-based approaches are crucial to student success, and are essential to promoting equity in STEM education.

STELAR is pleased to announce that NSF has released the latest ITEST solicitation (NSF 22-585)! We’re just as excited as you to take a deep dive into the revisions for this round of submissions, here are some of our biggest takeaways so far...

This report provides an overview of the ITEST portfolio's current projects. The information included was curated with new ITEST proposal writers in mind so that you can become more familiar with the program and current project trends. We used several data sources to compile this information; NSF's Award Search database, and project survey data collected by STELAR (the New Project Survey and Annual ITEST Survey).

ITEST is an applied research and development program with goals to advance the equitable and inclusive integration of technology in the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) from pre-kindergarten through high school. The program’s objective is to support all students’ acquisition of the foundational preparation in STEM disciplines. Preparation for the current and future workforce is increasingly dependent upon the application and use of technology and computing.

On May 16, STELAR hosted National Science Foundation Program Officers for part two of a three part webinar series on the new Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) Program’s Solicitation.

STELAR hosted a special presentation on behalf of NSF Program Officers on Thursday, June 2, from 1-2:30 pm ET. During the webinar a panel of Program Officers discussed key aspects for conceptualizing a competitive ITEST proposal. This webinar was designed to be highly participatory, and real-time attendance was required. This webinar was not recorded, but the presentation slides are available. 

The following information was originally posted on NSF.gov, we repost the information here to highlight this important change for the ITEST Community. Important information about the use of Research.gov for proposal submission...

On May 12, representatives from NSF's Division of Information Systems presented an overview of the Research.gov Proposal Submission System and the latest enhancements, including a demo site to explore the system before working on proposals. The session included a walk-through of how to quickly and easily create a proposal, upload proposal documents, manage senior personnel, and much more using NSF's user-friendly and intuitive Research.gov system.  

The Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development describes the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s and the U.S. Department of Education (ED)’s shared understandings of the roles of various types or “genres” of research in generating evidence about strategies and interventions for increasing student learning.

A Supplement to the Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development

This document includes six checklists created by the Evaluation Resource Center for Advanced Technological Education (EvaluATE).  These checklists  may be used by researchers and evaluators to check for adherence to the National Science Foundation's Common Guidelines.

In this webinar, PIs and evaluators described how they are meeting the challenge of incorporating rigorous research designs and evaluations that provide useful measures of project success, all while developing dynamic activities within the ITEST framework.

Beginning in 2009, the ITEST resource centers (LRC and STELAR) asked active ITEST projects to report their use of externally developed and reliable instruments to collect data on their project outcomes.

The STELAR website now houses a database of instruments. All of the instruments listed were used to some extent by at least one ITEST project. The ITEST project is listed under the "Related Projects" heading on the instrument's page. Only instruments that could be located online are included in the database.

United States Government Accountability Office
Applied Research and Methods
DESIGNING EVALUATIONS 2012 Revision

Preface

In today's world of high accountability, strong evidence on intended outcomes is key to building credibility and replicability of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs.  This primer, for program directors/managers, educators and others responsible for developing and implementing STEM programs:

Dr. Melissa K. Demetrikopoulos of the Program development and Evaluation Institute for Biomedical Policy shares her presentation "How and When to Engage an Evaluator" followed by Dr. Karen Gareis of Goodman Research Group on "Role of the Evaluator on NSF ITEST Grants."

Beginning in 2009, the ITEST resource centers (LRC and STELAR) asked active ITEST projects to report their use of externally developed and reliable instruments to collect data on their project outcomes.

The STELAR website now houses a database of instruments. All of the instruments listed were used to some extent by at least one ITEST project. The ITEST project is listed under the "Related Projects" heading on the instrument's page. Only instruments that could be located online are included in the database.

Looking for an evaluator for your proposal or project? Need specific research expertise on your team? Use our People Connector Directory to find people who have skills you need, or to list yourself as a resource to others.

Presenter: Judy Resnick, Project Opening Doors

When describing underserved and underrepresented groups in STEM education research there has traditionally been a deficits-based approach, focusing on the challenges that new interventions will help the students overcome. While it is essential that your proposal addresses student challenges, it is equally important to also thoroughly describe the ways in which your work will incorporate strengths-based approaches. The latest research has shown that strengths-based approaches are crucial to student success, and are essential to promoting equity in STEM education.

This paper, based on a review of over 200 publications related to approximately 110 ITEST projects, seeks to respond to the broadening participation question in the ITEST solicitation. While all ITEST projects include “broadening participation” as a central goal, we found that publications relating to 43 projects contained specific information on broadening participation. Of those, publications relating to 25 projects had “broadening participation” as the primary focus. Here, we present the range of strategies that project teams employed by highlighting some of those 25 projects.

During this webinar we heard from ITEST projects that are developing innovative program models to successfully recruit, retain, and engage youth from underrepresented communities in authentic STEM learning experiences.

ITEST Data Brief Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2015

ITEST Data Brief Volume 1, Issue 3, June 2012

The National Science Foundation ITEST Program explicitly states its commitment to focus on students from groups underserved and underrepresented in STEM and ICT-intensive careers. The ITEST Management Information System (MIS) asked projects to identify characteristics of their student participants, and this Data Brief explores that information to see whether and to what degree projects are working with underserved and underrepresented students.

The proliferation of new technologies has changed the way we live, learn, and work. Although the future of work is unclear, thought leaders, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), assert that artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, robotics, and machine learning will be ubiquitous in tomorrow’s workplaces.

This framework identifies 10 foundational career competency areas correlated to characteristics of future work at the Human Technology Frontier and what thought leaders in the field believe successful workers in those environments need to know and be able to do. It is meant as a guide for teachers interested in helping their students develop the foundations of skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to be successful in life when they exit formal schooling. Many of the suggested competencies may already be included in the curriculum or pedagogy in K-8 classrooms.

The ITEST program has enabled creativity, experimentation, and cultural responsiveness in STEM education and workforce development and broadened participation in STEM initiatives to Native American communities, underresourced urban communities, girls, and populations underrepresented in STEM fields. By approaching research and evaluation with flexibility and resourcefulness, the authors provide empirical evidence for the value of innovative approaches to STEM education that promote STEM interest and career-related outcomes and that build the foundational skills of the scientific and engineering workforce of the future.

This 2010 ITEST Information Brief shares examples and data about how the ITEST program strives to connect workforce development needs and K-12 learning in and out of school.