How Strategic Investment in Data is Expanding Afterschool STEM Access in Rural Oklahoma

In small, rural Oklahoma towns like Macomb and Springer, something exciting is happening after the school bell rings.

As part of a national effort through the Institute for a STEM Ready America, STEM Next made a strategic investment in the Oklahoma Partnership for Expanded Learning (OPEL) to strengthen how afterschool STEM programs are measured and evaluated throughout the state. By investing in stronger data systems, STEM Next is helping partners nationwide measure their reach, identify gaps, and demonstrate the collective impact of out-of-school-time STEM.

With this support from STEM Next, OPEL strengthened its data collection systems and deepened relationships with the Oklahoma Department of Education and 21st Century Community Learning Center sites. As a result, OPEL was able to identify a strong need from rural programs for more structured STEM activities. 

“Seventy-nine percent of the programs we surveyed were doing some sort of STEM, but nothing was consistent. A lot of that is resources and the quality, and the training to be able to teach STEM,” said Tristy Fryer, OPEL’s Out-of-School Time Initiatives Director.

Based on this finding, OPEL utilized grant funds to identify 55 key sites in need of more STEM activities and distributed hands-on STEM kits, with a focus on reaching programs in rural communities. 

Each kit came paired with 10 educator-ready lesson plans, designed to be usable by anyone regardless of their STEM background, a critical feature for afterschool programs whose staff often come from fields outside science and technology.

At Springer Schools, Program Director Kelsey Cox runs a 21st Century grant-funded program serving more than 80 students in a Title I community. She watched her students not just complete the builds, but test them, adjust them, and rebuild when something didn’t work. “Many of my students were over the moon excited when their build was successful. We had a lot of showcases and, ‘Look what I built, Mrs. Cox!'”

At Macomb School’s 21st Century Community Learning Center, Program Director Tristan Lloyd serves more than 200 youth in a small, rural community. She saw the kits spark something immediate in her students.

“The kits encouraged positive collaboration and problem-solving,” Lloyd said. One moment stood out: a second-grade girl who completed her bridge and was so proud she showed it off to other students at dinner that evening. For her third- and fourth-graders, Lloyd observed the same contagious energy. “They were all smiles.”

At STEM Next, we work to expand STEM learning in afterschool to help young people build durable skills, grow their STEM confidence, and explore career-connected pathways. As Fryer put it: “The more that we can get these kids in front of it [STEM], it’s going to be life-changing for them.”

The Afterschool Opportunity

Nationally, only 13% of young people have access to afterschool STEM. Yet Afterschool is the setting where young people have the opportunity for flexibility and hands-on STEM learning that goes beyond a set curriculum.

Access to these learning opportunities matters. Research shows that young people in afterschool and summer STEM programs are proven to increase STEM interest, durable skills, and career readiness.

STEM Next is proud to work nationwide with partners like OPEL to build programs’ capacity to deliver high-quality STEM learning to more youth, especially in rural communities where these opportunities can be limited. By improving measurement and evaluation systems and strengthening the data on afterschool STEM, we can ensure STEM opportunities are reaching the young people, educators and communities where they matter most.

Learn more about our approach to expand STEM learning nationwide here.

Photo Credit: Oklahoma Partnership for Expanded Learning (OPEL)