HSI Conference: Pathways for Hispanic Students in STEM

美国国家科学基金会（NSF）致同事的信NSF 17-092：改善西班牙裔服务机构（hsi）的本科STEM教育呼吁项目支持会议，这些会议将确定有关hsi本科科学，技术工程和数学（STEM）教育的最关键挑战和机遇，以及属于NSF使命，政策和实践的潜在可行解决方案。根据这一呼吁，该项目的主要研究人员观察到，当校园教师和管理人员每天在教室和办公室与学生一起工作时，他们很少得到有关人口统计学或准备水平的总体学生成功的数据。这个小组也很少被要求合作为可行的解决方案提出建议。提议的会议旨在通过创建一个专家社区来解决拉美裔学生在STEM领域的教育途径，从而解决这两个问题。西班牙裔学生，无论是上两年制还是四年制大学，都经历了追求STEM学位的高脱轨率。障碍往往出现在过渡阶段，即从高中到大学，在大学早期，从社区大学到四年制大学。会议的重点是学生必须从高中顺利毕业并获得学士学位的关键过渡。这些问题与全国的西班牙裔学生有关，更广泛地说，与其他在追求高等教育目标时面临重大挑战的未被充分代表的学生群体有关。与会者将主要是当地高中和两年制和四年制大学的教师和管理人员，重点是那些为西班牙裔学生服务的人。会议的目标有两个：向主要教师和管理人员介绍有关西班牙裔学生在STEM领域的已知研究，并提出一套建议，帮助NSF确定本科STEM教育的关键挑战、最佳实践和潜在的可行解决方案。加州大学欧文分校（UCI）提议召集南加州的学者参加为期三天的会议，以响应美国国家科学基金会（NSF）的呼吁，即确定两年制和四年制西班牙裔大学本科STEM教育的关键挑战和机遇。会议的最终目的是推进一个重要的国家目标：提高西班牙裔学生在全国高等教育机构STEM专业的保留率和毕业率。会议将是互动的，并有意设计为学习经验和数据收集练习。主要主题是：1)将学生从高中转到大学（2年或4年），并宣布STEM专业；2) STEM大学生（2年制和4年制）的初始挑战；3)社区大学生面临的特殊挑战；4)转学生及其面临的挑战；5)数据与分析：挑战与希望。在听取了一些专家的意见后，与会者将成立工作组，收集和组织可能得到NSF支持的循证解决方案。会议记录将以书面形式总结会议上提供的信息。在NSF设计HSI项目的建议将由该小组制定并广泛传播。评估将用于为会议记录收集信息。

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Dear Colleague Letter NSF 17-092: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) calls for projects to support conferences that will identify the most critical challenges and opportunities regarding undergraduate science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at HSIs, and potential actionable solutions that fall within NSF's mission, policies, and practices. In keeping with this call, the principal investigators of this project observe that while campus faculty and administrators work with students in their classrooms and offices every day, they are rarely presented with data about overall student success by demographic or preparation level. This group is also rarely asked to collaborate to build recommendations for actionable solutions. The proposed conference aims to address both these oversights by creating an expert community to address Educational Pathways for Hispanic Students in STEM. Hispanic students, whether attending a 2-year or 4-year college, experience a high rate of derailment from pursuing STEM degrees. Impediments tend to arise at transition points, namely from high school to college, in early college, and from community college to 4-year university. The conference focuses on the critical transitions that students must negotiate from high school to successful graduation with a Bachelor's degree. These issues are relevant to Hispanic students across the nation, and more broadly, to other groups of underrepresented students who face significant challenges in pursuing their higher education goals. Conference attendees will be primarily and faculty and administrators from local high schools and 2-year and 4-year colleges, emphasizing those that serve Hispanic students. The conference's goals are twofold: to educate key faculty and administrators about known research regarding Hispanic students in STEM, and to produce a set of recommendations to help NSF identify critical challenges, best practices, and potential actionable solutions for undergraduate STEM education. The University of California, Irvine (UCI) proposes to convene scholars from Southern California for a three-day conference in response to NSF's call for identification of critical challenges and opportunities in undergraduate STEM education at two-year and four-year Hispanic-serving institutions. The conference's ultimate purpose is to advance an important national goal: improving retention and graduation rates for Hispanic students in STEM in higher education institutions nationwide. The conference will be interactive and is intentionally designed to be both a learning experience and data collection exercise. Primary topics are: 1) Moving Students from High School to College (2 or 4-year) with a Declared STEM Major; 2) Initial Challenges for STEM College Students (2 and 4-year); 3) Challenges Specific to Community College Students; 4) Transfer Students and Their Challenges; and 5) Data and Analytics: Challenges and Promise. After hearing from a number of experts, the conference attendees will create working groups that will gather and organize evidence-based solutions that may be supported by NSF. Conference proceedings will be written summarizing information delivered at the conference. Recommendations for designing an HSI program at NSF will be developed by the group and widely disseminated. Assessment will be used to gather information for the conference proceedings.