Rationale: While much evaluation is done over STEM programs, often that evaluation focuses on issues that are easily measured such as:

• the number of program participants;
• the number of times a program has been replicated;
• participants' feelings about a program; and
• participants' perceptions of personal change because of being in a program.

These types of data can be useful but are somewhat peripheral to improved STEM achievement and participation in STEM careers. These types of data say nothing about project/program impact or about the degree to which a project/program meets its or the funders goals.

Rationale: If a funder has a theory of change and specifies the strategies that need to be included in a project/program, the evaluation may only need to focus on the quality of the implementation and the numerical outcomes. However, if principal investigators have flexibility in the strategies they select, the evaluation may also need to include data to assess individual and/or institutional changes that may be behind numerical outcomes.