National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

Status Briefing:

NASA Education Evaluation and 

Performance Monitoring Activities

November 13, 2017
Agenda

FY 17 Evaluation Challenges, Progress and Opportunities

FY 18 Plans

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Office of Education FY2018 Budget Language

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Office of Education Challenges

Performance Measurement

• NASA Education’s broad 

measures of success miss an 

opportunity to demonstrate 

specific progress towards short, 

mid and long-term outcomes.

• Prior performance assessment 

has excluded portions of the 

portfolio

Evaluation

• Program-level evaluation efforts 

have not synthesized individual 

activity-level evaluations to 

identify program-level impacts

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2017 Progress Update 

Performance Measurement

• In alignment with BSA direction, NASA 

Education is proposing revised FY 18 

performance measures to assess 

improvement of evaluation strategies 

and project impacts.

• NASA Education implemented refined 

data management business processes 

that improved activity data reporting 

by 46% over FY 2016.

• NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Subcommittee on STEM Education

Evaluation

• All significant MUREP and SEAP 

activities have active awardee or 

Center-level evaluations. 

• NASA Education is in the process 

of testing instruments for broader 

use with internship, educator 

professional development, and 

STEM engagement efforts.

• Collaboration with Co-STEM 

Interagency Working Groups (IWG)

• NSF/NASA Collaboration Meeting 

(Nov. 2nd)

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Key Opportunities for Continuous improvement

Performance Measurement

• Develop a series of performance 

indicators that demonstrate progress 

towards achieving goals and 

outcomes.

• Refine performance measurement and 

data management business processes 

to strengthen: 1) Development of 

performance targets; 2) Data 

collection, verification and validation, 

and analysis; and 3) Performance 

reporting.

Evaluation

• Strengthen the quality and cost 

effectiveness of evaluation 

activities by creating multi-year 

program-level strategies.

• Refine the business process to 

review evaluation plans and 

reports against a set of standards.

• Refine the approach to synthesize 

findings and use results to improve 

programs.

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• Develop a cross-cutting evaluation strategy 

based on scope of investments and stage of 

implementation including scaled-evaluation 

efforts, performance goals, education outcomes, 

and success criteria for the education components 

of public campaigns. 

• In alignment with GAO-11-208G and GAO-11-

646SP Performance Measurement and 

Evaluation Guidance

• Establish success criteria for improving 

student and educator proficiency in STEM 

disciplines. 

• Establish success criteria for 

grantee/awardee efforts to increase 

institutional capacity, research 

infrastructure, and building the future 

STEM workforce. 

• Provide robust evidence, literature 

reviews, and benchmarking studies 

for decision making, planning, 

program design assessment, and 

responding to and anticipating 

reporting needs.

Evidence-Based Design using

Literature Reviews and 

Benchmarking Studies

(4th QTR.)

• Provide robust evidence, 

literature reviews, and 

benchmarking studies for 

decision making, planning, 

program design assessment, and 

responding to and anticipating 

reporting needs. 

*Cross-Cutting Evaluation

Strategy for Center and Awardee 

Efforts (4th QTR.)

• Develop a cross-cutting evaluation 

strategy for Center and Awardee led 

efforts including performance goals, 

education outcomes, and success 

criteria for the education components 

of public campaigns.

Performance Measures

and Metrics

(3rd QTR.)

• Establish success criteria for 

measurement of program and activity 

impact.

• Establish success criteria for grantee 

efforts to increase institutional capacity, 

research infrastructure, and building the 

future STEM Workforce.

FY18 Performance and Evaluation Strategy

Governance and Business Process Refinement (4thQtr.)

• Strengthen Evaluation Accountability for Awardees

• Improve Evidence-Based Decision Making and Strategic Goal Setting

• Prioritize PRA Compliance 

*Pending Availability of FY2018 OE Resources

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