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What We Track

The ATE Survey captures key data that shows what projects are doing, who they are reaching, and how they are contributing to workforce development. The survey tracks:

Industry partnerships and collaborations
Educational programs and course development
Student outreach and recruitment efforts
Workforce preparation activities
Professional exchange and community building
Research efforts on technician education
Project evaluation activities

How Findings Are Used

For Current and Prospective Grantees
Anchor your project within the broader ATE landscape. Strengthen proposals, reporting, and partnerships.
For Researchers
Access longitudinal, program-wide data to explore trends and answer research questions. Inform publications or future funding opportunities.
For NSF Officers
Understand program reach, inform decision-making, and support continued investment in ATE.

Why the ATE Survey Matters

The ATE Survey helps tell the story of the ATE program’s work, demonstrating reach, strengthening accountability, and advancing the visibility of the ATE community.

95%
Average Response Rate
25+
Years of Data Collection
300+
Projects Surveyed Annually
11
Publications Informed

Process & Methods

The ATE Survey is a structured, annual process that collects relevant and meaningful data from all active ATE projects. From early outreach to final reporting, each step is guided by community input, alignment with ATE priorities, and a commitment to data quality and accessibility.

Survey Design

Questions are aligned with the most recent ATE program solicitation and informed by input from the ATE community, ensuring each item serves a clear purpose.

Survey Sample

The ATE Survey is a census of all ATE projects and centers that are active at the time the survey launches, including those in no-cost extensions. The survey sample is based on the official list of active awards provided by the NSF ATE program. Before the survey opens, principal investigators are asked to confirm their project’s status and contact information to help ensure accurate outreach and participation.

Data Collection

ATE PIs are invited to participate through a supported, multi-touch process that includes email outreach, online resources, and ongoing personalized assistance.

Analysis

Data is carefully cleaned and analyzed using standardized methods to ensure accuracy, consistency, and transparency across years.

Reporting

Findings are shared through reports, dashboards, and publications, making the data accessible, usable, and valuable to the ATE community and beyond.

ATE Survey History

Since its launch in 2000, the ATE Survey has provided a consistent, longitudinal view of the ATE program, capturing how projects evolve and contribute to the technician workforce. With a sustained response rate of 90% or higher, the survey continues to grow alongside the program, guided by community feedback and changing priorities.

2000
The first ATE Survey was conducted. Developed by The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University, the survey established a consistent, annual process for monitoring the activities and outcomes of ATE projects.
2008
EvaluATE was first funded as the ATE Evaluation Resource Center. We continued to administer the ATE Survey as a program-wide monitoring tool. Survey questions continued to evolve over time, with revisions to reflect changes in the ATEprogram and the community's needs.
2019
A major revision of the ATE Survey was informed by feedback from 70 ATE PIs, evaluators, and program officers. The redesigned survey improved the accuracy and usefulness of the data while better reflecting the evolving priorities of the ATE program.
2023
An online, interactive data dashboard was launched, giving users a more dynamic way to explore survey findings by discipline, region, project type, and other characteristics.

Research Using ATE Survey Data

The ATE Survey provides a comprehensive dataset for understanding trends, priorities, and emerging issues in technician education and workforce development. EvaluATE collaborates with internal and external researchers, including ATE projects and STEM education research teams, to include rotating “Special Topic Questions” each year. With a consistent response rate of 90% or higher, the survey offers one of the most reliable public-facing datasets on the ATE program.

Prior special topics have included:

  • Assessing applied research engagement and support needs across ATE projects (2026)
  • Understanding meaningful industry engagement in the ATE community to support educators in managing and evaluating industry partnerships (2025)
  • Understanding the use and barriers of extended reality technologies in ATE projects (2024)
  • Professional development in ATE projects: Faculty skill building, recruitment strategies, and implementation barriers (2024)
  • Exploring the impact of ATE mentoring initiatives on proposal development and successive funding applications (2024)
  • Understanding the economic development role of technician education (2023)
  • Assessing cybersecurity integration and support needs in ATE (2023)
  • Data collection, management, evaluation, and use in ATE projects (2022)
  • Assessment of professional development activities for educators (2022)
  • Alumni tracking practices in technician education programs (2021)
  • Informing interventions, products, and services most useful to the ATE community (2020)
  • Mathematics skills needed for success in technical education and STEM careers (2020)
  • Developing secondary school engagement strategies for community college recruitment (2020)
  • Future trends, priorities, and challenges of ATE (2019)
  • Accessibility concerns in ATE (2018)
  • ATE collaboration with business and industry (2016–17)
  • Industry-college collaborations in instructional program planning (2013)

The following publications have been informed by data collected from the ATE Survey

Boyce, A. S., Tovey, T. L. S., Onwuka, O., Moller, J. R., Clark, T., & Smith, A. (2023). Exploring NSF-funded evaluators’ and principal investigators’ definitions and measurement of diversity, equity, and inclusion. American Journal of Evaluation, 44(1), 50–73.
Slowinsky, M., & Bower, R. (2021). Partnership Models developed by the Working Partners Project.
Garza Mitchell, R., & Horvitz, B. (2017). Online technical education in the community college. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 41(6).
Wingate, L. A. (2017). Advancing research in the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 41(6), 370-373.
Bouda, K., & Bower, R. (2015, July 15). Creation, dissemination, and accessibility of ATE-funded resources. [blog].
Yarnall, L. (2013). Meeting 2020 workforce goals: The role of industry–college collaboration and goals for instructional design. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 38(2-3), 250-260.
Welch, W. (2014). An exploratory test of a model for enhancing the sustainability of NSF’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program.
Welch, W. (2013a). Developing and analyzing a scale to measure the impact of the Advanced Technological Education Program.
Welch, W. (2013b). Measuring the sustainability of the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education Program.
Smith, C., & Wingate, L. A. (2016). Strategies for broadening participation in advanced technological education programs: Practice and perceptions. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 40(9), 779-796.
Bartlett, K. R., Schleif, N., & Bowen, M. M. (2011). The use of workforce assessment as a component of career and technical education program evaluation. Career and Technical Education Research, 36(2), 105-118.

"The EvaluATE team was fantastic to work with to develop questions for the ATE survey special topics section. The timeline and process for this was very clear, and they provided great feedback and support to craft good questions to gather informative data for our targeted research."
Michelle Van Noy
Director & Associate Research Professor,
Education and Employment Research Center, Rutgers

Our Team

Professional photo of Maureen Green
Maureen Green
Project Manager
Maureen Green, Project Manager with EvaluATE, is your go-to point of contact for all things related to the ATE Survey. She can answer questions or concerns regarding the current survey, past surveys, or data requests.
Email Maureen
Erika Sturgis
Project Manager
Erika Sturgis, Project Manager with EvaluATE, oversees the ATE Survey, ensuring quality, accuracy, and utility of findings. She leads survey strategy and future innovations.
Nation Science Foundation Logo EvaluATE is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers 0802245, 1204683, 1600992, and 1841783. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this site are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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