Evaluation of STEM Equity Programs

"Program evaluation doesn't need to be daunting, complex, expensive or time-consuming. The Guide and Portal break evaluation down into a simple, 5-step approach that’s easy to apply."
IsabelleKingsley
Dr Isabelle Kingsley
Research Associate | Office of the Women in STEM Ambassador
STEM Equity Evaluation Portal
National Evaluation Guide

Australia has hundreds of STEM equity programs that seek to address inequities in STEM [1], but are they working? By evaluating programs, we can understand if our actions are effective to create positive change.

To support effective evaluation, the Office of the Women in STEM Ambassador has developed a National Evaluation Guide for STEM equity programs (the Guide) and the STEM Equity Evaluation Portal (the Portal).

The Guide and Portal deliver on a key recommendation of the Women in STEM Decadal Plan. It is also an integral part of the Australian Government’s Advancing Women in STEM 2020 Action Plan. 

Created by Dr Isabelle Kingsley, the Portal and Guide are complementary, user-friendly, how-to resources that offer practical advice to help STEM equity program leaders evaluate their programs. The Portal is also a searchable repository to discover program evaluations and learn what works and doesn’t work to improve equity.

We bundled the Portal and the Guide with a set of complementary resources, available below.

the resouces logo

A free evaluation tool to help you assess your program and share your findings.

National Evaluation Guide

Contains detailed ideas, advice, worksheets, templates and examples (68 pages).

Summarises the key ideas of the National Evaluation Guide (7 pages).

Illustrates the 5 steps of program evaluation (1 page).

Contains real examples of program evaluation plans and final reports.

Dr Isabelle Kingsley, the creator of the Portal, has recorded a detailed walk-through to show you how to use the Portal to search for programs and how to use the Portal to evaluate STEM equity programs.

References:

  1. McKinnon M. (2020). The absence of evidence of the effectiveness of Australian gender equity in STEM initiatives. Australian Journal of Social Issues. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.142

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We lead two research projects to examine gender equity in grant programs in the Australian research sector.