NSF INCLUDES Alliance: STEM Opportunities in Prison Settings (STEM-OPS)

NSF 包括联盟：监狱环境中的 STEM 机会 (STEM-OPS)

• 批准号: 1931045
• 负责人: Barbara Skudrzyk
• 金额: $ 522.99万
• 依托单位: Education Development Center
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1931045&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; INCLUDES; Alliance; STEM; Opportunities

Potential STEM talent is lost each day for some of the most underserved and underrepresented populations in our nation's incarcerated men, women, and youth. With years devoid of quality STEM education and opportunities while in prison, incarcerated individuals are often significantly underprepared in STEM and for the STEM workforce. This educational debt exacerbates the pattern of marginalization for these vulnerable populations. Their STEM literacy, employability and potential for earning sustainable wages upon release are stifled. This deficit in opportunity is especially stark for underrepresented groups in the United States. Roughly 61% of the prison population is non-white, which far exceeds the national average of 35%. The U.S. also has the highest per capita incarceration rates in the world, incarcerating 698 men, women, and youth for every 100,000 people. Equally unsettling, for the first time in American history the population growth rate for incarcerated women has outpaced men by almost 2 to 1 for the past 25 years. While there are many contributing factors to the high rate of incarceration in the U.S., high quality prison STEM education programs have been shown to help counter socio-economic and education debts through greater STEM knowledge attainment, successful societal integration, and increased wage and advancement potential, which increase the likelihood that formerly incarcerated individuals and their children can live productive lives. The NSF INCLUDES STEM Opportunities in Prison Settings (STEM-OPS) Alliance endeavors to build a national network aimed at providing and supporting viable pathways to STEM for the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. Using a collective impact approach, the Alliance will work collaboratively with key stakeholders and the target population to advance extant and untapped knowledge on high quality prison STEM education and opportunities. This work builds on efforts supported by the National Science Foundation, including exploratory work piloted by two NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots. If successful, this Alliance has the potential to significantly transform the face of the STEM workforce and the narrative regarding the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated and their potential to succeed in STEM.The STEM-OPS Alliance is comprised of partner organizations committed to ensuring that STEM preparation during and post incarceration is commonplace and successful. During its first year, the Alliance will focus on establishing its national network through a shared vision and goals and a collective impact approach. It will conduct systems ecology mapping to inform the supports and resources needed for the target population to succeed in STEM. Focus groups and interviews will be conducted with incarcerated middle/high school aged youth to better understand their experiences in K-12 schools and with STEM education prior to and during incarceration. The results of the mapping and youth study will be used to inform the future work of the Alliance. Affordances the network endeavors to achieve include: (a) creating accessible STEM opportunities for the target populations through STEM courses, in-prison laboratories, research experiences for undergraduates (REUs), internships, and mentoring, (b) a culturally responsive platform to connect formerly incarcerated job seekers with STEM employment opportunities, (c) an evidence-based toolkit for effective STEM in-prison program design and implementation, (d) an annual convening of key stakeholders and representatives from the target populations to share learnings, disseminate findings and resources, and support the growth and development of the Alliance, and (d) leveraging connections to the greater NSF INCLUDES National Network. A formative and summative evaluation will be conducted by an external evaluator. Through its network, the STEM OPS Alliance is well poised to directly impact 700-880 incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men and women and reach a significant number of organizations working to improve STEM opportunities and outcomes within prison contexts. This NSF INCLUDES Alliance is funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale. Significant co-funding has also been provided by the NSF Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program and the NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program (AISL).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

潜在的STEM人才每天都在流失，因为我们国家被监禁的男性，女性和青年中的一些最缺乏服务和代表性的人群。由于多年来在监狱中缺乏高质量的STEM教育和机会，被监禁的人往往在STEM和STEM劳动力方面准备不足。这种教育债务加剧了这些弱势群体的边缘化模式。他们的STEM素养，就业能力和释放后赚取可持续工资的潜力受到抑制。对于美国代表性不足的群体来说，这种机会赤字尤其明显。大约61%的监狱人口是非白人，远远超过全国35%的平均水平。美国也是世界上人均监禁率最高的国家，每10万人中有698名男性、女性和青年被监禁。同样令人不安的是，在过去25年里，美国历史上第一次被监禁的女性人口增长率超过男性近2比1。虽然美国的高监禁率有许多因素，高质量的监狱STEM教育计划已被证明有助于通过更高的STEM知识获得，成功的社会融合，以及增加工资和晋升潜力来帮助应对社会经济和教育债务，这增加了以前被监禁的个人及其子女过上富有成效生活的可能性。NSF INCLUDES STEM Opportunities in Prison Settings（STEM OPS）联盟致力于建立一个全国性网络，旨在为被监禁和以前被监禁的人提供和支持可行的STEM途径。该联盟将采用集体影响的方法，与主要利益相关者和目标人群合作，推进关于高质量监狱STEM教育和机会的现有和未开发的知识。这项工作建立在国家科学基金会支持的努力之上，包括由两个NSF包括设计和开发发射试验员进行的探索性工作。如果成功的话，这个联盟有可能显著改变STEM劳动力的面貌，以及关于被监禁者和以前被监禁者的叙述，以及他们在STEM中取得成功的潜力。STEM-OPS联盟由致力于确保监禁期间和监禁后的STEM准备是普遍和成功的合作伙伴组织组成。在第一年，联盟将侧重于通过共同愿景和目标以及集体影响办法建立其国家网络。它将进行系统生态绘图，以告知目标人群在STEM中取得成功所需的支持和资源。焦点小组和访谈将与被监禁的初中/高中年龄的青年进行，以更好地了解他们在K-12学校的经验，并与STEM教育之前和监禁期间。摸底和青年研究的结果将用于指导联盟今后的工作。该网络努力实现的能力包括：（a）通过STEM课程、监狱实验室、本科生研究经验（雷乌斯）、实习和指导，为目标人群创造无障碍的STEM机会，（B）一个文化响应平台，将以前被监禁的求职者与STEM就业机会联系起来，（c）一个基于证据的工具包，用于有效的STEM监狱计划设计和实施，（d）每年召集主要利益攸关方和目标人群代表，分享经验，传播研究结果和资源，支持联盟的成长和发展，以及（d）利用与更大的NSF INCLUDES国家网络的联系。形成性和总结性评价将由外部评价员进行。通过其网络，STEM OPS联盟已准备好直接影响700-880名被监禁和以前被监禁的男女，并接触到大量致力于改善监狱环境中STEM机会和成果的组织。这个NSF INCLUDES联盟由NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science（NSF INCLUDES）资助，这是一项全面的国家计划，旨在通过关注多样性，包容性和扩大STEM的参与来加强美国在发现和创新方面的领导地位。NSF学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划和NSF推进非正式STEM学习计划（AISL）也提供了大量联合资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。