Snapshot of Project Participants as of May 2011 (Month 1 of 18)

1. There will be a fold here There will be a fold here Communities of Practice as a Vehicle to Support SWDs in STEM FieldsPacific Alliance for Supporting Individuals with Disabilities in STEM Fields Partnership Stodden, R., Roberts, K., Park, H., Takahashi, K., Manaseri, H., Brown, S.E., & Komatsu, J. Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawai`i at Manoa • Context • National economic trend to boost Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) related job market & the Governor’s new initiative for STEM promotion in Hawai’I • Low rates of high school success; college enrollment, persistence, graduation; employment in STEM and other career positions for students with disabilities (SWD) • Only 37% of SWD who graduate from high school enter any type of postsecondary education compared to 78% of individuals without disabilities (Zafft & Nott, 2006) • Goals • Increase the recruitment of SWD in high schools on O’ahu who enroll in STEM degree programs at partnering 2- and 4-year institutes of higher education by 20% per year. • Increase the graduation rates of SWD in STEM enrolled at O’ahu-based community colleges and university by 10% per year. • Increase successful entry (employed) rates of Alliance graduates (high school, associate, baccalaureate, and graduate) into STEM employment by 5% per year. • Evidence-Based Practices • What is a Community of Practice (COP)? • COP is an evidence based practice where teams of people who share a concern or a passion for “something” they do, work together to learn how to do it better as they interact regularly (Wegner, McDermott, & Snyder, 2004). • Who are involved in the COP? • 3 Pacific Alliance COPs: 13 members in the University of Hawai`i Manoa (UHM) COP, 8 members in the Honolulu Community College (HCC) COP, & 12 members in the Windward Community College (WCC) COP. Snapshot of Project Participants as of May 2011 (Month 1 of 18) Figure 2. COP process • How does COP work? • Each Pacific Alliance COP addresses, through a continuous process (figure 2.), the following four categories of barriers that impinge upon the experience, transition, success, and completion of SWD in STEM related high school coursework, postsecondary degree programs, and employment fields: • 1. Disability (e.g., physical access and lack of academic and career accommodations); • Self-empowerment/exploration (e.g., perceived lack of ability to succeed, and lack of awareness and opportunities in STEM); • Academics (e.g., lack of basic academic skills, lack of academic supports, advising, and accommodations, and insufficient content obtainment in STEM); and, • Career/employment (e.g., physical, communication, and visual access to job responsibilities and lack of knowledge of work specific accommodations). • What is the COP member’s commitment? • Members participate on a voluntary basis • Formally meet twice a year • Complete surveys • Maintain student confidentiality Graph 1. Number of Student Participants over 18 months IWD DSSO STEM faculty COP STEM employer Learning Centers • Challenges & Needs Identified by COP • As depicted in figure 2, in the early stages, COP goal is to gain a • picture of the landscape of each respective community by sharing the • perspectives and resources that each member brings to the discussion. • As IWD are recruited for participation, COP focuses on more specific • students’ needs. • 1. COP Common Needs & Challenges • Student recruitment, data on SWD in STEM • 2. UHM - 4 year university, urban setting • Baseline: 800 SWD on Campus & 190 SWD in STEM programs • Year 1: 811 SWD on Campus & 196 SWD in STEM programs • Need for faculty/staff training on disability awareness • No specific feeder high school  outreach necessary to all schools • Connecting SWD to other NSF initiatives • 3. HCC – 2 year community college, urban setting • Baseline: 139 SWD on Campus & 62 SWD in STEM programs • Year 1: 176 SWD on Campus & 73 SWD in STEM programs • Building partnership within the community  transition from high school to community college • Mapping STEM initiatives at high schools that connect to HCC STEM programs • Exploring career opportunities • 3. WCC – 2 year community college; suburban setting • Baseline: 130 SWD on Campus & 49 SWD in STEM programs • Year 1: 132 SWD on Campus & 54 SWD in STEM programs • Need to connect with feeder high schools • Transportation of SWD to attend STEM activities • Moving SWD into STEM courses at 4 year colleges • Moving SWD into STEM employment • Project Successes (Month 1-18) • Project meeting target benchmarks • Sound infrastructure and programming including student tracking system • Successful outreach to high schools, teachers, and students • Increase in number of participants across O’ahu • Successful implementation of activities targeting the 3 areas of barriers • Students beginning to transition through critical junctures • Successful networking using COP resources • Mentoring beginning to expand • Career connections growing • Parents and other community organizations more aware of the project • Project Challenges (Month 1-18) • identification of students at college level • limited staffing for expanding activities and programming • updating Goal 1 and 3 data and method of calculation in defining an annual increase of participants in Goal 1,2,3 • coordination between feeder high schools and college campuses for transition of students with disabilities • mapping STEM initiatives at local high schools, and assessing how those fit in to college programs • involving COP members at various stages and levels of the project • Key Findings about COP (Month 1 - 18) • The three COP have both unique and common needs, resources, and assets • Practices proposed by project staff were responsive to the assessed needs of each COP • COP members vary with a few core member • The focus has shifted from the recruitment of SWD to the implementation of support and activities of participants Feeder high Schools • Summary on Participants (Month 1 – 18) • The number of participants have increased steadily over the past 18 months. The significant increase is with juniors and seniors in high schools. Students represent 7 high schools on O’ahu. Some of these high school students have graduated in May 2011 and will be moving on to community colleges and universities. The main activities with high school students are: STEM embedded interest building, self-advocacy, transition, basic academic building and assistive technology. • College student participants have also increased, though not as rapidly as high school students. This is due to self-disclosure of disability. College students are interested in career and internship in STEM, stipends for STEM courses, use of assistive technology and STEM specific tutoring. Figure 1. Communities of Practice Network Courtesy of 3D Innovations, LLC http://www.cds.hawaii.edu/pacificalliance/ NSF Grant No. HRD #09-29079