Effects of Culturally Responsive Practices on the Success of Academically Talented STEM Students with Financial Need

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This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Holyoke Community College. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to 30 unique full-time students and 9 part-time students pursuing STEM associate’s degrees, with the intention to transfer to a four-year institution to major in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, environmental science, geoscience, mathematics, or physics. Full-time Scholars will receive up to three years of funding and part-time Scholars will receive up to four years of funding. The project will implement six central activities intended to bolster student success: 1) a cohort-based, enriched STEM-focused seminar; 2) intensive faculty and peer mentoring; 3) early undergraduate research; 4) civic engagement; 5) tutoring in STEM courses; and 6) faculty professional development on culturally responsive pedagogy. These activities focus on improving students’ STEM identity, and are expected increase equitable access to high achievement and other positive outcomes. Knowledge generated from project findings and professional development workshops on culturally responsive pedagogy are expected to be broadly transferable to STEM education from K-12 to four-year institutions. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project will use culturally responsive practices and activities to create a community of highly engaged learners and enable them to achieve success academically and within the workforce. Further, this project will investigate the hypothesis that a STEM program designed around culturally responsive pedagogy will help Scholars develop their STEM identity, confidence, and sense of belonging, which, in turn, will impact their success, achievement, and retention in STEM. Findings from this project will advance the understanding of the effectiveness of culturally responsive practices in STEM education and will address research gaps in the literature related to the connections between culturally responsive pedagogy and student outcomes, including academic achievement. Project outcomes will also highlight methods to increase retention and graduation of STEM students at the community college level, their transfer to four-year colleges in STEM disciplines, and their persistence into STEM careers. Formative evaluation will be conducted each semester for ongoing improvement, to assess student engagement, to review academic challenges, and to address other needs. Project findings will be disseminated through conference presentations, a project website, and journal articles. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields.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.