GSE: Working Class Women using Community College Pathways to Four Year STEM Degrees

GSE：工薪阶层女性通过社区大学途径获得四年制 STEM 学位

• 批准号: 0734000
• 负责人: Becky Packard
• 金额: $ 42.65万
• 依托单位: Mount Holyoke College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-01 至 2012-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0734000&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GSE; Working; Class; Women; using

Female African American and Latino students from working class families are significantly underrepresented in science and technical fields, especially computer science and engineering. Since over fifty percent of first generation, lower-income income Latinos and African American women use two year colleges as an entry point to the four year degree, and so few actually complete that pathway, research is needed to better understand this pathway and the experience of ethnically diverse working class women within the pathway. This study uses a mixed methods short-term longitudinal sequential design. Two cohorts are followed over a 15 month time period: 1) 75 community college students accepted as transfers to 4-year colleges to pursue STEM degrees, and 2) 75 recent high school graduates entering community college for the first time. Data sources include ethnographic interviews at the organization level and with key adult supporters across contexts of home, college and workplace, individual interviews, and quantitative surveys of mentoring, cultural capital, and procedural knowledge. Growth curve models trace cultural capital and mentoring over time, and qualitative data are used to identify key factors that influence the persistence of the participants at an individual and organization level. In-depth case studies increase understanding about the process of acquiring and sustaining mentoring and related capital, and how these three major contexts function in concert with one another in the lives of working class students. Intellectual Merit: At the four year post-secondary level, there is a substantial body of research examining students? decisions to switch away from science and technology fields while pursuing their four-year college degrees. Although this past research has provided a critical foundation for examining retention, this study contributes significant new knowledge about working class women and the variability within their transitions along the community college pathway to the four year STEM degrees. Given the complexity of working class women?s educational pathways, and the field?s lack of research focused on this population and community college STEM pathways, this study offers new knowledge about the factors that contribute to persistence of working class women of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Broader Impacts: Knowledge from this study influences the retention of working class women, with a large proportion of students of color by offering organizations (colleges and universities) strategies to assist these women in their pursuit of STEM education. In addition, the study includes several female undergraduate students, including many students of color and first generation college students, in a research experience. Existing partnerships between community colleges and four year colleges are fostered and strengthened. Dissemination includes the development of a website for use in public schools, reports for public audiences, white papers, and journal articles.

来自工人阶级家庭的女性非裔美国人和拉丁裔学生在科学和技术领域，尤其是计算机科学和工程学的人数少于人数。由于低收入收入的拉丁裔和非裔美国妇女以超过百分之五十的百分点为四年学位的入口点，因此实际上很少有人完成途径，因此需要进行研究以更好地了解这一途径以及在途径中属于种族多样化的工人阶级女性的经验。该研究使用混合方法短期纵向顺序设计。在15个月的时间段内遵循了两个队列：1）75名社区大学生被接受为4年的大学攻读STEM学位，而2）75名最近首次进入社区大学的高中毕业生。数据来源包括在组织层面的民族志访谈以及在家庭，大学和工作场所的背景下，个人访谈以及指导，文化资本和程序知识的定量调查的主要成人支持者。成长曲线模型跟踪文化资本和随着时间的推移指导，定性数据用于确定影响参与者在个人和组织层面上持久性的关键因素。深入的案例研究提高了人们对获取和维持指导和相关资本的过程的了解，以及这三个主要环境如何在工人阶级学生的生活中相互运作。知识分子优点：在大专院级的四年中，有大量的研究研究学生吗？在追求四年制大学学位的同时，决定远离科学和技术领域的决定。尽管这项过去的研究为检查保留率提供了关键的基础，但这项研究为工人阶级妇女及其在社区大学沿着四年茎学位的过渡中的变异提供了重要的新知识。鉴于工人阶级妇女的教育途径的复杂性以及该领域的缺乏研究集中在这一人群和社区学院的STEM途径上，因此这项研究提供了有关有助于多种种族背景的工人阶级女性的新知识。更广泛的影响：这项研究的知识会影响工人阶级妇女的保留，并通过提供组织（学院和大学）策略来帮助这些妇女追求STEM教育，从而影响了工人阶级妇女的保留。此外，该研究还包括几位女性本科生，包括许多有色人种和第一代大学生的学生。社区大学和四年制大学之间的现有合作伙伴关系得到了培养和加强。传播包括开发用于公立学校的网站，公共受众，白皮书和期刊文章的报告。