DCL: NSF INCLUDES. Conference to Advance the Collective Impact of Retention and Continuation Strategies for Hispanics and Other Underrepresented Minorities in STEM Fields

该奖项支持召开会议及相关活动，将汇集研究人员、高等教育管理人员、行业代表、专业协会成员和其他社区成员，设计集体影响举措，以改善拉美裔、女性和其他未被充分代表的群体在STEM领域的保留和延续。对于代表性不足的少数族裔和第一代学生来说，无论是在社区大学、四年制大学还是研究生课程中，保留和继续他们的教育生涯的下一步是一个特别的挑战（Ishitani 2006, Sowell et al. 2015）。会议明确关注这一关键问题，并将确定可以在不同类型的机构、社区和代表性不足的群体中推广的潜在补救措施。这次会议将采用一种集体影响、网络化的改进方法来帮助填补这一空白，并让更广泛的社区参与进来。这种方法提供了一种识别和同意共享的、可测量的目标、跨个人和组织的协调机制、对对比和比较的承诺以及持续改进的伦理的方法。根据现有文献和广泛利益相关者的建议，该团队将为联盟和国家INCLUDES（在工程和科学多样性方面代表性不足的全国学习者社区的包容性）网络提出可衡量的战略，这些战略可以实施、测试、增强和扩展。研讨会小组将利用基于证据的知识，利用来自学科和跨学科领域以及不同类型的机构和教育水平的发现，以确定所确定的战略是否能够在实现包容性目标方面取得大规模进展。结果将通知INCLUDES联盟和支持联盟的骨干组织。

This award supports a conference and related activities which will bring together researchers, higher education administrators, industry representatives, members of professional societies, and other community members to design collective impact initiatives to improve the retention and continuation of Hispanics, women, and other underrepresented groups in STEM fields. Retention and continuation to the next step in their educational careers is a particular challenge for underrepresented minorities and first-generation students, whether in community college, four-year institutions, or graduate programs (Ishitani 2006, Sowell et al. 2015). The conference focuses explicitly on this critical issue, and will identify potential remedies that can scale across different types of institutions, communities, and underrepresented groups.This conference will employ a collective impact, networked improvement approach to help fill this gap and engage the broader community. This approach offers a means of identifying and agreeing upon shared, measurable objectives, mechanisms for coordination across individuals and organizations, a commitment to contrast and comparison, and an ethic of continuous improvement. Drawing from the extant literature and recommendations from a wide array of stakeholders, the team will propose measurable strategies for Alliances and the National INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners that have been Underrepresented for Diversity in Engineering and Science) Network that can be implemented, tested, enhanced, and expanded. The workshop team will draw on evidence-based knowledge, leveraging findings from disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields and from differing types of institutions and educational levels to determine whether strategies identified can yield large-scale progress towards INCLUDES goals. Results will inform the INCLUDES Alliances and the backbone organization supporting the Alliances.