Welcome

The NSFAYS initiative supports and researches out-of-school-time programs designed to build student interest in STEM fields. The 16 funded programs take a variety of approaches and address a variety of STEM disciplines. In common they all provide students ongoing (one- to two-year) opportunities to deepen their interest in, understanding of, and career awareness with regard to STEM. Each project is conducting its own evaluation and its own set of research studies.
The Research & Evaluation Center, headed by CILS, SRI, International, and Harvard University's PEAR, is evaluating the overall initiative by examining the ways in which the projects build student interest, skills and knowledge, self-efficacy, and opportunities to persist in STEM learning. We also examine how classroom teacher's participation in these out-of-school-time programs affects their classroom practices.