Closing STEM Student Academic Performance Equity Gaps Through Student Research Exposure and Faculty Professional Development in Pedagogy and Curricular Innovation

在改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，这一Track 2实施和评估项目将实施以证据为基础的师资发展，从而在少数族裔服务的社区学院形成支持多样性、公平和纳入STEM学科的机构文化。此外，它还将展示这种教学和课程实践与持续的、多方面的学生支持相结合的影响，以及为建立STEM身份而增加接触本科生研究经验的机会，从而提高学生的学业表现，并成功地转移到学士学位STEM学位课程。RCC每年为30,000多名学生提供服务。来自传统上代表不足的种族背景的学生占RCC入学学生的73%，其中西班牙裔学生是多数群体(63%)。对于RCC的学生来说，教育，特别是STEM教育，提供了改善他们的社会流动性和生活质量的希望。然而，这些学科是最严格的，课程不及格率和流失率都很高。在核心STEM课程表现、STEM内的坚持性以及西班牙裔、非裔美国人和其他在高等教育中代表性不足的群体转到四年制大学方面，存在着显著的公平表现差距。我们寻求通过教与学的可持续改进来改变这一点。为了实现这一目标，我们正在与加州州立大学圣贝纳迪诺分校(CSUSB)合作，复制他们在教师发展方面所做的工作，围绕包容性和响应性的STEM教学法，并扩大有针对性的学生支持、指导和接触学生研究的机会。将实施两套相辅相成的活动：(1)同行主导的教师专业发展，重点是STEM的教学和课程改进；(2)扩大学生在STEM学科内和跨STEM学科的体验式学习和研究，并通过接触转学目的地大学的暑期研究经验。这些活动将导致(1)增加STEM教师的知识、技能，并利用具有文化敏感性的、包容的和积极的学习方法；(2)提高STEM的学生保留率、学期间的坚持性、课程成功率和转化率，并缩小学生公平差距；(3)对STEM关于多样性、公平和包容性(DEI)的知识库做出贡献。该项目将创建STEM教师学习社区(FLC)，以开发和实施注重公平、以证据为基础的做法，事实证明，这些做法有效地支持西班牙裔和其他代表性不足的学生在中学后STEM教育中取得成功。研究将通过采用混合方法全面评估项目在多个层面的实施和成果，促进少数群体服务机构对STEM教育的了解。该项目将衡量FLC参与者对STEM高影响力实践的认识和实施情况的变化，以及STEM学生与STEM相关的身份、归属感和职业规划以及他们的学业表现和发展轨迹的变化。该项目的成果将通过关于少数族裔学生在STEM学科中的坚持性和成功的文献，以及侧重于高影响力教学实践的STEM教师专业发展的文献来提供信息并做出贡献。这项工作的结果将通过纪律会议和在专门针对社区学院和拉美裔服务机构的会议上的演讲向多个受众传播。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育，扩大STEM的参与，并建设HSIS的能力。鉴于高等教育机构的不同性质和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法，以激励机构和社区的变革，并促进基础研究(I)关于学生参与式学习，(Ii)关于如何有效地多样化和增加对STEM的参与，以及(Iii)提高我们对如何建设高等教育机构能力的理解。HSI计划支持的项目也将从这些方法中获得如何实现这些目标的新知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 Implementation and Evaluation project will implement evidence-based faculty development leading to an institutional culture supportive of diversity, equity, and inclusion within STEM disciplines at a minority serving community college. Further, it will demonstrate the combined impact of such pedagogical and curricular practices with sustained, multi-faceted student supports, and enhanced exposure to undergraduate research experiences for building STEM identity, leading to improved student academic performance and successful transfer to baccalaureate STEM degree programs. Annually, RCC serves more than 30,000 students. Students from traditionally underrepresented ethnic backgrounds represent 73% of students enrolled at RCC, of which Hispanic students are the majority group (63%). For the students of RCC, education, especially STEM education, offers the promise of improving their social mobility and quality of life. However, these disciplines are among the most rigorous, and have high course failure and attrition rates. There are notable equity performance gaps in core STEM course performance, persistence within STEM, and transfer to four-year universities for Hispanic, African American, and other underrepresented groups in higher education. We seek to change that through sustainable improvement in teaching and learning. To accomplish this goal, we are partnering with California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) to replicate work they have done with faculty development around inclusive and responsive STEM pedagogy, and to expand targeted student support, mentorship and exposure to student research opportunities. Two complementary sets of activity will be implemented: (1) peer-led faculty professional development focused on pedagogical and curricular improvements in STEM; (2) expansion of student experiential learning and research within and across STEM disciplines, and through exposure to summer research experiences at a transfer destination university. Those activities will result in (1) increased STEM faculty knowledge, skills, and utilization of culturally sensitive, inclusive, and active learning pedagogy; (2) increased STEM student retention, term-to-term persistence, course success, and transfer rate, and closing of student equity gaps; (3) contributions to the knowledge-base about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in STEM. The project will create a STEM faculty learning community (FLC) to develop and implement equity-minded, evidence-based practices proven effective for supporting Hispanic and other underrepresented students to succeed in postsecondary STEM education. Research will contribute to the knowledge on STEM education within minority serving institutions by employing a mixed-methods approach to holistically assess the project’s implementation and outcomes at multiple levels. The project will measure changes in FLC participants’ awareness and implementation of high-impact practices and knowledge of DEI issues in STEM, and changes in students’ STEM-related identity, belonging, and career plans, as well as their academic performance and trajectory. The project results will be informed by and contribute to the literature on underrepresented minority student persistence and success in STEM disciplines, as well as STEM faculty professional development focused on high-impact teaching practices. Results of this work will be disseminated to multiple audiences via disciplinary conferences, and presentations at conferences specific to community colleges and Hispanic serving institutions. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.