Conference: The State of Equitable STEM Pedagogy at California Community Colleges

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With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this conference proposal aims to host a one-day regional conference by Santa Monica College titled “The State of Equitable STEM Pedagogy at California Community Colleges” where participants will share models of equitable teaching practices within STEM courses at California community colleges and HSIs. While much educational equity research has focused on the experiences of students at four-year institutions, additional research is needed on the experiences of community college students. This is a relevant area for research given that proportionally more Hispanic/LatinX and Black/African American students begin their academic careers in higher education at community colleges; and within the California community college demographics 46.04% of the student population are Hispanic/Latinx students while their success and completion rates are lower than peers, specifically in STEM education. This conference will contribute to a richer body of knowledge around effective equity practices at community colleges and HSIs and will establish a platform for greater collaboration among STEM faculty at California community colleges. This conference will highlight key research findings from various initiatives already underway at Santa Monica College, including the NSF-funded grant Fostering an Equity Minded Student Success Culture in STEM, the California Board of Trustee’s math initiative, the SMC Equitizing Gateway Courses initiative, and the redesign of Student Services around the student experience. It will also showcase STEM equity-focused initiatives from other California community colleges and will allow STEM equity practitioners to gain knowledge and insight on how to best serve our Black and Latinx students in STEM to help close racial equity gaps. This conference will help build a broader network of equity practitioners among STEM faculty at California Community Colleges.Through a combination of online presentations and workshops, participants will be exposed to high-impact equitable teaching practices designed to close academic achievement gaps often experienced by Black and Latinx students in STEM courses, including how intersectional identities often amplify existing equity gaps. The goal of the conference will be to highlight how the unique goals, strengths, challenges, and experiences of community college students require intentional approaches to pedagogical practices designed around closing educational equity gaps. This conference will consist of concurrent presentations and workshops, along with a keynote speaker that will allow presenters and participants to share their knowledge and experiences with equitable pedagogical practices in STEM. Workshops will be organized around the following themes: sense of belonging, intrusive advising, early alert systems, asset-based approaches, and student services. A conference-specific Canvas course will be used to share resources and foster discussion among participants. Conference presentations and materials will be made widely available in a publicly accessible archive. An external evaluator will survey conference participants to measure their understanding of the conference sessions, as well as their likelihood to promote, develop and improve their own teaching practices with an equity-minded focus.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.