NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: Creating the Networks That Can Build and Sustain Inclusive, Workforce-relevant STEM Courses for Underrepresented Students

NSF 包括规划拨款：创建网络，为代表性不足的学生建立和维持包容性、与劳动力相关的 STEM 课程

• 批准号: 2012896
• 负责人: Julie Kochanek
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-01 至 2021-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2012896&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; INCLUDES; Planning; Grant; Creating

Disparities in access to and availability of workforce-relevant STEM courses continue to persist. The inequities are particularly profound for high school students of color and students from rural and low-income backgrounds. As a consequence, these students are less likely to succeed in STEM courses and pursue STEM majors and careers. When workforce-relevant STEM courses are available, underrepresented and underserved students are also more likely to be taught by teachers who are ill-prepared to teach such courses. This further exacerbates the problems and failures of inequity in the education system. This planning grant will begin to address these challenges through a large-scale social-change-driven coordinated effort. The American Institutes for Research (AIR), in collaboration with 100Kin10, will create this large-scale change by preparing for, launching, and supporting three place-based networks to improve the quality of and equitable access to workforce-relevant STEM courses. These networks will develop plans that, when implemented, will enable more underrepresented students to access and succeed in workforce-relevant STEM courses, as well as determine the extent to which the collaborative infrastructure and its use contribute to those systemic improvements. Each of the place-based networks, made up of districts, teacher preparation programs, business communities, and other relevant organizations in a geographic region, will test, adapt, and refine strategies for driving STEM improvements at the local level. If successful, this foundational work will not only inform the approach for expanding and scaling the model, but it will also contribute to NSF’s commitment to improving quality and inclusion within the K–12 education system by focusing on broadening participation challenges at the high school level.Over the 12-month project duration, the guiding framework for the work will be centered on two of the five NSF INCLUDES design elements of collaborative infrastructure; (a) leadership and communication and (b) expansion, sustainability and scale. Using this framework, the work will begin with a literature scan conducted by AIR to identify evidence-based practices and measures aligned to leadership, communication, expansion, sustainability, and scale in PK–12 education systems. AIR and 100Kin10 will then work collaboratively with the place-based networks to co-design plans that use evidence-based practices for collaboration among members and promote evidence-based strategies for reducing systemic STEM inequities to support the design and delivery of workforce-relevant high school STEM courses, especially in low-income, rural, and majority-minority high schools. Specifically, the co-designed plans will work to: (1) improve educators’ capacity to develop and teach workforce-relevant STEM courses; (2) increase the number of high school students enrolling in and completing workforce-relevant STEM courses; and (3) expand, sustain, and scale evidence-based practices for supporting underrepresented student populations in STEM. The place-based network plans will include goals and metrics for tracking the progress in overcoming the inequities and determining the extent to which specific collaborative mechanisms spur progress toward the place-based networks’ aim. After identifying and selecting the goals and metrics, the project team will work with the place-based networks to understand the local, root causes of inequity in student access to workforce-relevant STEM; support the creation of strong local place-based networks; and draft plans with goals and metrics for progress in overcoming the inequities and collaborative mechanisms that may spur that progress. The support of these efforts will be led by the backbone organization, 100Kin10. The role of the backbone organization will be to support the launch the three place-based networks, support their partnerships through workshops and convenings, and connect them to its extensive national networks of representatives from more than 30 organizations nationwide with expertise in the central levers of systemic STEM change and focused on improving access to workforce-relevant STEM courses. This planning grant 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.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.

在获得和提供与劳动力相关的STEM课程方面仍然存在差距。对于有色人种的高中生以及来自农村和低收入背景的学生来说，这种不平等尤为深刻。因此，这些学生不太可能在STEM课程中取得成功，并追求STEM专业和职业。当与劳动力相关的STEM课程可用时，代表性不足和服务不足的学生也更有可能由准备不足的教师教授这些课程。这进一步加剧了教育系统中的不平等问题和失败。这项规划赠款将开始通过大规模社会变革驱动的协调努力来应对这些挑战。美国研究所（AIR）与100 Kin 10合作，将通过筹备、启动和支持三个基于地方的网络来创造这一大规模的变化，以提高与劳动力相关的STEM课程的质量和公平获取。这些网络将制定计划，一旦实施，将使更多代表性不足的学生能够获得与劳动力相关的STEM课程并取得成功，并确定协作基础设施及其使用在多大程度上有助于这些系统性改进。每个基于地方的网络，由地区，教师准备计划，商业社区和地理区域的其他相关组织组成，将测试，调整和完善在地方一级推动STEM改进的战略。 如果成功的话，这项基础性工作不仅将为扩展和扩展模型的方法提供信息，而且还将有助于NSF致力于通过专注于扩大高中阶段的参与挑战来提高K-12教育系统的质量和包容性。在12个月的项目期间，工作的指导框架将以NSF包括协作基础设施的五个设计要素中的两个为中心;（a）领导力和沟通以及（B）扩展、可持续性和规模。利用这一框架，工作将开始与AIR进行文献扫描，以确定基于证据的做法和措施，在PK-12教育系统的领导，沟通，扩展，可持续性和规模。然后，AIR和100 Kin 10将与基于地点的网络合作，共同设计计划，使用循证实践进行成员之间的合作，并促进基于证据的战略，以减少系统性STEM不平等，以支持设计和提供与劳动力相关的高中STEM课程，特别是在低收入，农村和少数民族占多数的高中。具体而言，共同设计的计划将致力于：（1）提高教育工作者开发和教授与劳动力相关的STEM课程的能力;（2）增加高中生入学和完成与劳动力相关的STEM课程的人数;（3）扩大，维持和扩展基于证据的做法，以支持STEM中代表性不足的学生群体。基于地点的网络计划将包括目标和衡量标准，用于跟踪在克服不平等方面取得的进展，并确定具体的协作机制在多大程度上推动实现基于地点的网络的目标。 在确定和选择目标和指标后，项目团队将与基于地点的网络合作，以了解学生获得与劳动力相关的STEM的不平等的本地根源;支持创建强大的本地基于地点的网络;并起草计划，其中包括克服不平等的目标和指标以及可能促进这一进展的合作机制。这些努力的支持将由骨干组织100 Kin 10领导。骨干组织的作用将是支持启动三个基于地方的网络，通过研讨会和会议支持他们的伙伴关系，并将他们与来自全国30多个组织的代表组成的广泛的全国网络联系起来，这些组织具有系统性STEM变革的核心杠杆方面的专业知识，并专注于改善与劳动力相关的STEM课程的获取。这项规划补助金由NSF在工程和科学领域代表性不足的发现者的学习者社区的全国包容性资助。（NSF INCLUDES）是一项全面的国家倡议，旨在通过关注多样性，包容性，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。