NASA's Education Programs Are Still Broken
NASA OIG Audit: NASA’s Education Program
“NASA’s Office of Education has taken steps to improve its management of the Agency’s diverse education portfolio … However, the Office’s efforts have been hampered by an outdated strategic framework and a lack of long-term goals upon which to evaluate the success of NASA’s education activities. Specifically, the Office of Education did not update a 2006 framework document to align with the priorities outlined in the Agency’s 2014 Strategic Plan until July 2015. Furthermore, the updated framework did not include measurable long-term goals that address the Nation’s need to increase the number of students who earn advanced degrees in preparation for STEM careers. … In addition, a lack of timely and comprehensive management information has adversely impacted the Office of Education’s ability to effectively monitor program accomplishments and accurately report NASA contributions to the Administration’s STEM education goals. … in contrast to Federal guidance, NASA risks funding a fragmented portfolio of activities. We believe the Office of Education could reduce this risk by emphasizing coordination and consolidation as a priority in the initial stages of the competition and subsequently engaging the Centers to identify common themes.”
A major difficulty in evaluating NASA’s education efforts is that it’s illegal for the space agency to track individual students. This removes the most direct and useful way of seeing what exposure to NASA education efforts actually produces in the way of STEM program college graduates.
NASA could be effective in education if it would educate the public, including students, about its projects, programs, and plans (if it has plans). NASA gets a lot of money for education. It is one of the largest executive branch education budgets. From what I see a lot of the NASA education does not adequately focus on or incorporate NASA projects, programs or plans.
What about all of those people walking around at every NASA center and various aerospace contractors who definitely benefited from NASA education programs, some a WHOLE lot more than others. You would be surprised.
I think NASA educational programs (such as coop programs and internships) oriented toward students who actually want to work in the space program are reasonably effective, as are internships in many other industries. I agree it isn’t really NASA’s responsibility to promote STEM education in general, Maybe the Department of Education could handle that?