ASSET STEM Education: Elementary Program
Impact
ASSET’s excellent hands-on educational materials have reached more than 7,000 Pennsylvania teachers and 225,000 students. Students of ASSET teachers spend more classroom time on science, score significantly higher on standard tests, and report more interest in the subject. ASSET has aspirations to reach almost 250,000 teachers and millions of students in the next ten years.
Accomplished
- Need Accomplished
- Evaluation Accomplished
- Sustainability Developing
- Replication & Scalability Accomplished
- Partnerships Accomplished
- Capacity Accomplished
- Challenging & Relevant Content Accomplished
- STEM Practices Accomplished
- Inspiration Developing
- Under-Represented Groups Developing
The bottom line is that supporting ASSET makes good business sense for a STEM company like Bayer. Not only are we helping to nurture and develop a scientifically literate American citizenry, but also the next generation of inventors, innovators and discoverers who are critical to our company’s long-term success.
Former President & Chief Executive Officer, Bayer Corporation and Bayer Material Science, LLC
Design Principles
The programs in this database clear a high bar. STEMworks reviewed each program against the Design Principles for Effective STEM Philanthropy. Programs must be Accomplished (
) across all Design Principles, or be Developing (
) in a maximum of three areas.
Overarching Principles
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Need Accomplished
Identify and target a compelling and well-defined need.
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Evaluation Accomplished
Use rigorous evaluation to continuously measure and inform progress towards the compelling need identified.
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Sustainability Developing
Ensure work is sustainable.
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Replication & Scalability Accomplished
Demonstrate replicability and scalability.
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Partnerships Accomplished
Create high impact partnerships.
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Capacity Accomplished
Ensure organizational capacity to achieve goals.
STEM Principles
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Challenging & Relevant Content Accomplished
Offer challenging and relevant STEM content for the target audience.
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STEM Practices Accomplished
Incorporate and encourage STEM practices.
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Inspiration Developing
Inspire interest and engagement in STEM.
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Under-Represented Groups Developing
Identify and address the needs of under-represented groups.
Program Overview
ASSET (Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching) STEM Education is a national STEM improvement nonprofit that inspires innovation and excellence in STEM by providing highly effective educator professional development, hands-on classroom materials and consulting services to schools, universities and organizations. Established by Bayer Corporation and several community partners in 1994, all of ASSET’s programs are results-oriented, research- and inquiry-based and align with national and state standards. Since its inception, ASSET has commissioned independent evaluations that have consistently shown a positive effect on teacher development and student achievement. Based on its track record, ASSET was recently named the Pennsylvania representative to Battelle’s STEMx national network. In 2010, ASSET was selected as one of the first-round recipients of a U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation Grant to validate its model in rural and high-needs schools. From 2006-2011, ASSET designed and implemented the statewide Science: It’s Elementary initiative in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.