An innovative system-building initiative known as the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice (SLECoP) is transforming U.S. STEM education through cross-sector partnerships between schools, afterschool and summer programs, libraries, museums, and businesses, among others. The present study describes the results of a 34-item qualitative survey—completed by leaders of 37 SLEs from four U.S. regions—designed to understand where SLEs are in their evaluation planning, implementing, and capacity-building processes. We found that most SLEs were championed by the extended education sector, and all were highly motivated to conduct evaluation and assessment.

High-quality OST programs provide young people with rich, engaging learning experiences, coupling STEM concepts with hands-on activities that foster youth voice and choice and apply STEM to real-world social contexts (Lyon, Jafri, & St. Louis, 2012; Noam & Shah, 2014). A large and growing literature documents the positive effects of OST STEM on youth outcomes (e.g., Allen et al., 2019; Dabney et al., 2012; Young, Ortiz, & Young, 2017). To better understand how communities can develop and leverage partnerships within and beyond OST to improve STEM programming, we conducted an in-depth case study of one of the first STEM learning ecosystems in the U.S.: the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance in Oklahoma, which is working to improve STEM teaching and learning from its home base in the OST sector.

In an effort to bridge the gap between schools and afterschool programs, we drew upon our previous research, as well as an array of program observations, focus groups, interviews with programs, interviews with afterschool leaders, and reviews of research and theory within the field. Although we believe that more bridging between schools and afterschools can be beneficial to both programs and children, we do not believe bridging means that programs must become school-based, nor that they must become school-like. In our view, bridging should seek to create continuity across learning opportunities, achieve integration of different learning goals, and deepen children’s exploration and skill acquisition, all the while respecting the fact that there exist many types of learning that should be protected across a diversity of learning environments.