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STEM Action Center reports statewide reach; cites kit and math-mentors results
Summary
The Utah STEM Action Center told the subcommittee it reached an estimated 54% of Utah students and 4,000 STEM educators in FY24, highlighted kit-based outreach and math-mentors as programs with measurable teacher and student gains, and described its public foundation and partner-supported funding model.
Tammy Getz, director of the Utah STEM Action Center, presented the agency's annual statutory report to the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee on Jan. 30, 2025. Getz said the center was created by the legislature in 2013 and operates both a state-funded program and a public 501(c)(3) foundation created in 2017 to accept private donations.
Getz said state funds are primarily used for programming (about 84% after a 16% administration share) while the foundation leverages corporate donations and grants. She described a range of programs: teacher professional learning, integrated computing partnerships, the UMake maker-learning network, MicroSTEM Fest and a kit checkout program that evolved from a mobile STEM team during the pandemic.
Getz presented FY24 results: the center reported direct program contacts covering roughly 54% of Utah students, around 40% of program access from rural communities, and roughly 4,000 STEM educators served by professional learning. She said the STEM kit checkout model substantially increased reach compared with the previous in-class delivery model and reported a 40% increase in teachers saying they felt more prepared to teach STEM after using the kits; about 63% of teachers who checked out kits in FY24 were return users from FY23.
Getz also described a math-software supplemental program and a newer math-mentors program that layers small-group mentoring onto software use for grades 3—. She said the agency uses logic models, frequent monitoring and mixed quantitative and qualitative measures to evaluate impact and that the center's strategic plan expires this year and will be updated.
Why it matters: The STEM Action Center supports classroom resources and statewide STEM access, particularly in rural areas where local capacity can be limited. Committee members heard evidence the center's kit-based outreach and mentoring programs increased teacher confidence and student interest in STEM.
Next steps: The center invited legislative participation in its strategic planning process and said it will continue to report program metrics for FY25.
