Equity in PreK-12 STEM Education

教育不平等是美国的一个重要问题，有充分证据表明，由于公立学校的结构性不平等，许多学生接受的教育质量大大降低。这些不平等在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育中尤为明显，在这些教育中，获得高质量教学和高级课程的问题与关于哪些学生可以在STEM中取得成功的刻板印象和偏见交织在一起。利用美国国家科学院、工程院和医学院（NASEM）的共识研究过程，NASEM的科学教育委员会（BOSE）将召集一个专家委员会，调查STEM教育中教育不平等表现的具体方式，并就各级教育利益相关者如何采取措施解决这些不平等问题提出可操作的建议。最终报告将提升政策、项目设计和实践方面的共同思路，从而成功改善传统上在STEM学科中被边缘化的学生的STEM教育成果。通过确定政策和实践中的这些共同线索，并通过BOSE共识研究报告的工具来提升它们，本研究将为整个STEM教育界，从最高级别的政策制定者到课堂教师，提供他们需要的可信资源，以倡导和支持政策和实践中的生产性变革。该项目由EHR核心研究（ECR）计划资助，该计划支持推进STEM学习和学习环境基础研究、扩大STEM参与和STEM劳动力发展的工作。拟议的共识研究将提供与解决PreK-12 STEM科目不平等相关的广泛研究文献的综合。这一综合将全面了解联邦、州、地区和课堂层面的政策和项目干预是如何试图解决STEM教育中的不平等问题的——无论是在投入还是结果方面——并关注可复制的策略和实践。一个专家委员会将审查与STEM教育不平等有关的证据基础；考虑州、地区、学校和课堂层面的政策和干预措施，这些政策和干预措施已显示出解决STEM教育不平等问题的证据；并为该领域提出建议和研究议程。这项研究将采取系统的观点，审查各级政策如何相互作用，从而形成一份综合了彼此孤立的多种证据的报告。为了补充和深化委员会对研究证据的分析，该研究将在全国范围内开展五个区域利益相关者实地参与活动，以了解特定社区的关注点，并确定在不同教育背景下经历的机遇和挑战的范围。通过突出这些证据基础集中的领域（以及记录证据中存在分歧和差距的领域），最终报告将跨越学科研究线，并考虑如何将它们整合起来，以提供更连贯的方法来解决STEM教育中的不平等问题。这种综合理解可能为如何解决PreK-12 STEM教育中的不平等问题提供新的视角，并确定需要进行更多研究的领域。最终，这项研究将有助于促进变革，为所有人提供更多样化、更公平、更包容和更容易获得的STEM教育体验。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Inequity in education is a critical issue in the United States with well-documented evidence that many students receive substantially lower quality educations due to structural inequity in public schooling. These inequities are particularly pronounced in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education where issues of access to high quality instruction and advanced coursework are intertwined with stereotypes and biases about which students can succeed in STEM. Using the consensus study process of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), NASEM’s Board on Science Education (BOSE) will convene an expert committee to investigate the specific ways that educational inequity manifests in STEM education and make actionable recommendations for how education stakeholders at all levels can take steps to address these inequities. The final report will elevate common threads in policy, program design, and practice that lead to success in improving STEM education outcomes for those students who have traditionally been marginalized in the STEM disciplines. By identifying those common threads in policy and practice and elevating them through the vehicle of a BOSE consensus study report, this study will provide the entire STEM education community, from policymakers at the highest levels to classroom teachers, with the trusted resource they need to advocate and support productive change in policy and practice. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.The proposed consensus study will provide a synthesis of a wide range of research literatures relevant to addressing inequity in PreK-12 STEM subjects. This synthesis will provide for a comprehensive understanding of how policy and program interventions at the federal, state, district, and classroom levels have attempted to address inequity in STEM education—both in terms of inputs and outcomes—with attention to replicable strategies and practices. An expert committee will examine the evidence base related to inequity in STEM education; consider policies and interventions at the state, district, school, and classroom level that have shown evidence of addressing inequity in STEM education; and develop recommendations and a research agenda for the field. This study will take a systemic perspective that examines how policies at various levels might interact with one another, resulting in a report that integrates multiple lines of evidence that have developed in isolation from one another. To complement and deepen the committee’s analysis of the research evidence, the study will employ five regional stakeholder field engagement events around the country to understand the concerns of specific communities and to identify the range of opportunities and challenges experienced across different education contexts. By highlighting areas where those evidence bases converge (as well as documenting areas of disagreement and gaps in the evidence), the final report will look across disciplinary lines of research and consider how they might be integrated to provide more coherent approaches to addressing inequity in STEM education. This integrated understanding may provide new perspectives on how to address inequity in PreK-12 STEM education and identify areas where more research is needed. Ultimately, the study will help to catalyze change toward a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible STEM educational experience for all.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.