establish partnerships among academic institutions, local or State educational agencies, and other relevant stakeholders in supporting programs and activities to facilitate the widespread and sustained implementation of promising, evidence-based STEM education practices, models, programs, curriculum, and technologies;

support enhanced STEM education infrastructure, including cyberlearning technologies, to facilitate the widespread adoption of promising, evidence-based practices;

support research and development on scaling practices, partnerships, and alternative models to current approaches, including approaches sensitive to the unique combinations of capabilities, resources, and needs of varying localities, educators, and learners;

include a focus on the learning needs of under-resourced schools and learners in low-resource or underachieving local educational agencies in urban and rural communities and the development of high-quality curriculum that engages these learners in the knowledge and practices of STEM fields;

include a focus on the learning needs and unique challenges facing students with disabilities;

support research, development, or education on one or more of the key technology focus areas;

support research and development on scaling practices and models to support and sustain highly-qualified STEM educators in urban and rural communities; and

at the discretion of the Director, any other requirements recommended in the study commissioned under section 18991(a) of this title.

leverage existing collaborations, tools, and strategies supported by the Foundation, including NSF INCLUDES and the Convergence Accelerators;

support research on and the development and scaling of innovative approaches to distance learning and education for various student populations;

support education innovations that leverage new technologies or deepen understanding of the impact of technology on educational systems; and

include a commitment from local or State education administrators to making the proposed reforms and activities a priority.

a description of the focus and proposed goals of each Center;

an assessment, based on a common set of benchmarks and tools, of the Centers’ success in helping to promote scalable solutions in PreK–12 STEM education; and

any recommendations for administrative and legislative action that could optimize the effectiveness of the Centers established under this section.