NSF INCLUDES: STEM Core Initiative

NSF 包括： STEM 核心计划

• 批准号: 1649381
• 负责人: Jim Zoval
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Saddleback College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-10-01 至 2018-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1649381&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; INCLUDES; STEM; Core; Initiative

Demand for skilled workers in STEM industries is continuing to grow rapidly across the United States. At the same time, postsecondary completion rates in fields such as computer science and engineering lag far behind demand. Academically, calculus is the critical barrier to entry to high-growth, high-wage STEM careers for the 59% of community college students who enter at remedial math levels, greatly diminishing the candidate pool for careers in STEM disciplines. In California, for example, only 4% of community college students advance to calculus in 4 years and therefore never have a chance to begin to train for the STEM careers that dominate the state's economic landscape. This barrier diminishes the candidate pool for STEM careers falling disproportionately on two groups: (1) minority students who are overrepresented in remedial programs; and (2) female students who are underrepresented in higher-level math courses. To broaden participation and expand the pipeline of available STEM talent, the STEM Core Initiative (SCI) implements a model that includes an accelerated and contextualized math course sequence with intensive supportive services designed to serve underrepresented students. The cohort-based program moves students from intermediate algebra to calculus-readiness in two semesters (as opposed to two or more years). A prototype of the SCI model has been implemented at four colleges over the last three years and has resulted in a 20-30 percent increase in math course success rates for participants compared to students enrolled in a traditional math course track. The partnership replicates and scales SCI successes through an enhanced STEM Core pathway model to be implemented at 13 California community colleges and one large and diverse Maryland community college campus, directly serving more than 625 students. Further, as a workforce development program, SCI offers paid internships with leading national and regional employers in computer science and engineering and exposes students to high-growth, high-wage STEM career opportunities. The one-year calculus-readiness and internship pathway for remedial students is a new approach in eleven of the partner colleges and utilizes a collective impact approach to align industry and workforce development partners. The partnership offers wrap around student support, accelerated and contextualized learning, and expanded high-quality work-based learning experiences including internships. Well-positioned employer partners (such as NASA and the federal energy labs) contribute to the development of a national strategy by assisting community colleges with course contextualization, providing career orientation, and hosting project-based internships. To advance research, SCI employs a comprehensive multiple methods plan to assess the effectiveness of the STEM Core intervention and identify and understand the effective practices that underpin successful implementation of the STEM Core at 14 community colleges in California and Maryland. The evaluation seeks to measure and understand the impacts of STEM Core on student learning, academic and industry engagement, academic momentum, math confidence, and commitment to STEM as well as an understanding of implementation and replication strategies that yield the greatest impact. National dissemination of the results showcase the successes of STEM Core and build capacity to replicate the model.

美国各地对STEM行业技术工人的需求持续快速增长。与此同时，计算机科学和工程等领域的高等教育完成率远远落后于需求。在学术上，对于59%的社区大学生来说，微积分是进入高增长、高工资的STEM职业的关键障碍，这大大减少了STEM学科职业的候选人池。例如，在加州，只有4%的社区大学生能在4年内升读微积分，因此他们永远没有机会开始接受STEM职业的培训，而STEM职业在该州的经济格局中占主导地位。这一障碍减少了STEM职业的候选人才库，这两个群体不成比例地落在了两个群体身上：(1)参加补习课程的少数族裔学生人数过多；(2)高等数学课程中女生人数不足。为了扩大参与和扩大可用的STEM人才渠道，STEM核心计划（SCI）实施了一种模式，其中包括加速和情境化的数学课程序列，以及旨在为代表性不足的学生提供的强化支持服务。这个基于队列的课程在两个学期内（而不是两年或更长时间）将学生从中级代数转移到微积分准备。在过去的三年里，SCI模式的原型已经在四所大学实施，与参加传统数学课程的学生相比，参与者的数学课程成功率提高了20- 30%。该合作伙伴关系通过在加州13所社区学院和马里兰州一所大型多元化社区学院校园实施的强化STEM核心途径模式，复制并扩大SCI的成功，直接服务超过625名学生。此外，作为一项劳动力发展计划，SCI为国家和地区领先的计算机科学和工程雇主提供带薪实习机会，并为学生提供高增长，高工资的STEM职业机会。在11所合作院校中，为补习学生提供为期一年的微积分准备和实习途径是一种新方法，它利用集体影响方法来协调行业和劳动力发展合作伙伴。该合作伙伴关系提供学生支持，加速和情境化学习，以及扩大高质量的基于工作的学习体验，包括实习。定位良好的雇主合作伙伴（如美国国家航空航天局和联邦能源实验室）通过协助社区大学进行课程情境化、提供职业定位和举办基于项目的实习，为国家战略的发展做出了贡献。为了推进研究，SCI采用了一个综合的多方法计划来评估STEM核心干预措施的有效性，并确定和理解在加利福尼亚州和马里兰州的14所社区学院成功实施STEM核心的有效实践。评估旨在衡量和理解STEM核心对学生学习、学术和行业参与、学术势头、数学信心和对STEM的承诺的影响，以及对产生最大影响的实施和复制策略的理解。成果在全国的传播展示了STEM核心的成功，并建立了复制该模式的能力。