Stepping Up to STEM Act of 2013

Key: what the circles and colors mean

Each circle is a bill. The ring fills as it moves through Congress:

IntroducedPassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law (gold)Resolution agreed to (full, dark)Failed or vetoed (gray)

Under the number: the Yea · Nay count of its final (or latest) recorded vote. On a member's page, the small badge is how that member voted: Y Yea / Aye, N Nay / No, P Present, – Not voting.

Gold and violet are only for Yea and Nay; they never mean a party. A member's party is the letter on their photo.

Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 113th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.

D HondaSponsor

44 cosponsors · 44 D

38 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.

Stepping Up to STEM Act of 2013 - Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to establish the Office of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education within the Department of Education to administer STEM education.

What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in House · Mar 12, 2013

Directs the Office of STEM Education to conduct an independent evaluation of the Department's STEM Education programs at least once every five years.

Establishes an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Education (ARPA-ED) within the Department to pursue breakthrough research and development in educational technology and to facilitate the effective use of that technology to improve student achievement.

Directs the Secretary of Education to award matching grants to state-based STEM networks or similar organizations of STEM stakeholders to increase students' achievement in the STEM disciplines in elementary and secondary schools and in out of school and afterschool programs.

Includes among grant uses:

testing, sharing, and scaling up STEM education research, promising practices, and exemplary programs;
identifying state STEM education weaknesses and prioritizing strategies to address them;
implementing rigorous career and college ready standards in STEM education;
developing and implementing innovative STEM assessments that measure student progress toward those career and college ready standards;
promoting and developing pre- and in-service STEM teacher training;
developing STEM career pathways and workforce education and training programs that reflect 21st century workforce needs;
facilitating the implementation of expanded STEM learning opportunities on school sites; and
promoting, supporting, and designing programs that develop STEM content coaches and master educators in order to strengthen core competencies of the classroom practitioner.

Requires grantees to conduct periodic independent evaluations of their effectiveness in accomplishing those activities.

Prohibits the Secretary from: (1) endorsing or approving any STEM curriculum designed for use in an elementary school, secondary school, or institution of higher education; or (2) requiring a state, local educational agency, or school to adopt a specific STEM program or instructional materials.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov

About this bill and sources

Official title: Stepping Up to STEM Act of 2013

Latest action (Apr 23, 2013): Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.

Policy area: Education · Origin: House · Introduced: Mar 12, 2013

Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)

No recorded floor vote found.