New Jersey
STEM Data Dashboard
Serving as a hub of publicly-available secondary, postsecondary, and labor market data related to STEM in New Jersey, the STEM Data Dashboard is a resource used to inform education leaders, parents, students, policymakers, and other stakeholders.
This Dashboard was made possible by the generous support of:
About the New Jersey STEM Data Dashboard
The mission of the New Jersey STEM Pathways Network is to define and guide a statewide STEM vision for pre-K-to-workforce formal and informal learning opportunities that strengthen academic skills and inspire students; facilitate research and recommendations on STEM talent pipeline needs and barriers to success; and expose students to the many educational pathways, experiences, and professionals that can prepare them for STEM degree programs and careers in New Jersey.
In an effort to assess and meet those goals, the NJSPN initiated an independent implementation assessment by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. The Heldrich Center 2018 implementation assessment of the NJSPN and its four STEM learning ecosystems documented the launch and progress to date and provided recommendations.
Based on a recommendation that encouraged the NJSPN to identify uniform outcome measures to track the collective impact, the NJSPN leadership team proposed the creation of a data dashboard tool that presented several STEM indicators of success to provide stakeholders an accessible tool to assess the state of STEM and measure their progress over time. As such, the Heldrich Center proposed the development of the New Jersey STEM Dashboard to present key indicators that match with NJSPN goals.
The NJSPN goals and examples of some key indicators are as follows:
1. Increase Student Participation in STEM Education
- STEP AP Course Enrollment
- Math Course Enrollment
- Science Course Enrollment
2. Increase Equity in STEM education
- NJASK Science Proficiency broken down by student subgroup
- Math PARCC Scores by student subgroup
3. Increase Student Performance in STEM Education
- Proficiency Percentage on NJASK and Biology Exams
- Average Math Scores on PARCC and National Exams
4. Promote STEM Real-World Connections.
- District and State CTE, SLE, Dual-Enrollment, Postsecondary Enrollment, and AP exam scores
- Statewide Postsecondary Completion in STEM Majors
- Statewide STEM Occupation Description and Statistics
Researchers collected data from publicly available resources including the NJ Department of Education District Performance Reports and IPEDS Higher Education Completion Data. To supplement the publicly available data and to provide more information about STEM learning and initiatives in New Jersey, the Heldrich Center fielded an online survey to New Jersey district superintendents and administrators to gather information that is not reported publicly. Click here to review the findings of the supplementary survey.
The STEM Data Dashboard and supplementary survey of school districts are meant to be companion pieces and starting points to understand the state of STEM in New Jersey and track progress. If you are interested in learning more about the NJSPN and how to support STEM in your community please connect visit www.njstempathways.org and join our listserve or contact our office. We are eager to recruit more STEM leaders to participate in our priority groups in computer science, early learning, teacher recruitment and training and workforce development.