STEM Equity Pipeline Partnership Model

1. STEM Equity Pipeline Partnership Model Identifying Root Causes and Effective Strategies to Increase Student Outcomes in STEM Claudia Morrell National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity

2. Nontraditional Fields Occupations or fields of work, including careers in computer science, technology, and other current and emerging high skill occupations, for which individuals from one gender comprise less than 25 percent of the individuals employed in each such occupation or field of work. National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity

3. Why We Care. • Labor market demand is comparatively strong • STEM fields offer great jobs! • Women and men shape technology to meet their needs. • Global Competitiveness

4. STEP 2 Identify Root Causes STEP 1 Document Performance Results STEP 5 Implement Solutions STEP 3 Choose Best Solutions STEP 4 Create an Evaluation Plan The Five Step Program Improvement Process

6. Why Search for Root Causes? • Keep from fixating on the “silver bullet” strategy • Identify the conditions or factors that cause or permit a performance gap to occur • Direct cause (i.e. instructional practice) • Indirect cause (i.e. teacher training)

7. How to Identify Root Causes • Search for the most direct and highest impact causes • Employ a systematic evidence-based process • Formulate and test theories or hypotheses • Draw on current research and evaluation • Use multiple methods and data sources • Likely to find multiple causes

8. Identify Potential Causes • Review Research Literature • Review Program/Institutional Evaluations and Effectiveness Reviews • Conduct Focus Groups • Peer Benchmarking • Interviews & Surveys • Brainstorm

9. NAPE Resources • Survey Instruments • How to Conduct Interviews • How to Conduct Focus Groups www.stemequitypipeline.org

10. Review Research Summary “Nontraditional Career Preparation: Root Causes and Strategies” Authors: Lynn Reha, ICSPS; Mimi Lufkin, NAPE; Laurie Harrison, Foothill Associates

11. Academic Proficiency • Very predictive for women • Not as predictive for men • Societal stereotypes about women’s lack of ability in math and science negatively affect performance – stereotype threat • Women may have poorly developed spatial and visualization skills

12. Spatial and Visualization Activity

13. Access to and Participation in STEM • Shrinking gender gap in performance on national assessments in math and science between boys and girls • Still significant gaps when looking at gender AND race/ethnicity or socio-economic status • Girls not translating their academic success in STEM to careers in STEM

14. Curriculum Materials • Invisibility • Stereotyping • Imbalance/Selectivity • Unreality • Fragmentation/Isolation • Linguistic Bias • Cosmetic Bias • Relevance

15. Instructional Strategies • Instruction begins first at home • Questioning level and wait time • Student/teacher interaction and feedback • Classroom management • Cooperative learning design • Expectations and assessment

16. Classroom Climate • Fair treatment • Sexual harassment not tolerated or ignored • Supportive learning environment • Classroom location on campus • Physical environment • Subtle “micro”messages

17. Student Isolation • Cohort of underrepresented students in a program are more likely to complete than a single individual • Individuals more likely to • Have trouble integrating effectively in to social structure • Suffer decreased performance • Drop out

18. Early Exposure • Most students pursuing a nontraditional career have had a friend or family member influence them • Spark an interest that would otherwise not be evident • Informal experiences supported by formal experiences • The earlier the better

19. School Climate • Nontraditional faculty and staff • Acceptable behavior in hallways, cafeteria, school events, busses, etc. • Administration and staff support and encouragement • Extracurricular activities • Clubs, After School Program • Competitions • Summer Camp

20. Support Services • Tutoring • Child care • Transportation • Financial Aid • Books, Equipment, Tools, Clothing • Tuition • Modification of Curriculum, Equipment • Student/Teacher Aides • More

21. Career Guidance Materials and Practices • More than just brochures and posters • Get beyond the images • Beware of subtle messages • Use of interest inventories • For men, interest precedes self-confidence, but for women self-confidence precedes interest • Lack of understanding of careers • Wage earnings information

22. Techno Bag Exercise

23. Occupational Perception • Job Satisfaction • Career Family Balance • Wage Potential • Career Purpose

24. Family Characteristics and Engagement • Parents are the #1 influence of student college major and career choice • Negative messages from people with emotional influence difficult to overcome • Family role models • Lower socioeconomic males more likely to chose nontraditional careers • Upper socioeconomic females more likely to chose nontraditional careers

25. Self-efficacy • Attribution Theory • Girls more likely to attribute success to external factors and failure to internal factors • Stereotype Threat • Being at risk of confirming a negative stereotype • Locus of Control • When students feel they are in control of their lives and their futures they are more likely to select nontraditional options

26. Social Attitudes • Gender schema: Assumptions about gender from birth on • Accumulative Advantage: Members of a disadvantaged group have to accumulate more that 1% advantage to be considered the same as the advantaged group • Implicit bias - Unconscious associations https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

27. Media Representation

28. Student Attitudes/Peer Influence • Adolescent social norms • Fear of “looking dumb” or smart! • Girls more concerned about appearances than boys • Boys more “reference group independent” • Peer harassment or support • Critical mass/tipping point

29. Nontraditional Role Models • Strongest evidence in the research • Need to see someone that looks like them in the career • Family members are significant • Teachers • Mentors

30. Break/Questions?

31. Analyze and Evaluate Potential Causes In groups of 5 • Review the root causes cards • Arrange the root causes by your group’s sense of their impact and relationship to students in programs nontraditional by gender • Post the cards on the wall in whatever arrangement best fits your group’s thinking

32. STEP 1 Document Performance Results STEP 2 Identify Root Causes The Five Step Process STEP 5 Implement Solutions STEP 3 Choose Best Solutions STEP 4 Create Evaluation Plan

33. Choose Best Solutions Facts First! • How do you identify possible strategies and model practices? • How do you evaluate strategies and models? • How do you compare and assess alternative solutions and make a decision?

34. Assessing and Comparing Alternative Strategies • Sound Theory • Strong Evidence • Costs/Time of Further Testing • Resources • Stakeholder Support • Failure is Expensive • Select a Full Range of Choices

35. Identify Potential Strategies and Models • Review What Others Propose • NSF- New Formulas for America’s Workforce • AAUW – Why so Few? • Benchmark Peers and Leading Performers • Programs and Practices That Work • Develop Your Own Solutions

36. School Climate • Increase teacher and administrator quality and equity-capacity through professional development GESA for Administrators Graymill NAPE Professional Development Institute Washington, DC Taking the Road Less Traveled II: Toolkit for Educators MAVCC/NAPE

37. School Climate • Increase competence in diversity and sexual harassment prevention Gender Equity Tip Sheets Tolerance.org Southern Poverty Law Center Project Implicit, Harvard University

38. School Climate • Implement and model gender-fair institutional strategies Checking Your School for Sexism Destination Success, MAVCC Gender Equity Item Bank Midwest Equity Assistance Center

39. Instructional Strategies • Conduct professional development with teachers at all levels Generating Expectations for Student Achievement, Graymill STEM Equity Pipeline Career Technical Education Equity Council

40. Student Isolation • Conduct nontraditional student support groups and peer counseling Computer Clubhouse Boston’s Museum of Science Nontraditional Support Group Technology Center of DuPage College of DuPage

41. Curriculum Materials • Evaluate all school and curriculum materials for gender bias and positive nontraditional images Gender Equity Tip Sheets Bias Evaluation Instrument Nova Scotia Department of Education Curricular Detecting Skills Gender in the Classroom, Sadker & Zittleman

44. Chronicle of Higher Education February 17, 2006 Full Page Ad: CDW-G The Right Technology Right Away

46. Career Guidance Materials and Practices • Use images that reflect diversity in any media materials STEM Equity Pipeline Poster Resources Video Resources Taking the Road Less Traveled II Photo Album

47. Career Guidance Materials and Practices • Review career guidance materials and practices for gender bias and nontraditional exposure and support • Guidelines for Identifying Bias in Curriculum and Materials Safe Schools Coalition • Am I a Fair Counselor Destination Success, MAVCC • Could This Be Your Life? Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support

48. Career Guidance Materials and Practices • Create opportunities to spark student interest • Pre-enrollment exploration programs • Tours that include hands-on activities • Nontraditional program exploration days • Targeted recruitment activities • Send a personal invitation

49. Career Guidance Materials and Practices • Conduct pre-technical training programs Rosies Girls Northern New England Tradeswomen TechBridge Chabot Space and Science Center Technical Opportunities Program Chicago Women in the Trades

50. Career Guidance Materials and Practices • Conduct targeted recruitment activities Summer Camps Cisco Gender Initiative Strategies I am an Engineer Cisco Systems, Inc. The Academy for Leadership & Equity Nontraditional Career Resource Center Rutgers University