HSI Conference: Pathways for Hispanic Students in STEM

美国国家科学基金会(NSF)亲爱的同事信NSF 17-092：改善西班牙裔服务机构(HSI)的本科生STEM教育呼吁开展项目，以支持会议，这些会议将确定HSI本科生科学、技术工程和数学(STEM)教育方面最关键的挑战和机会，以及符合NSF的使命、政策和实践的潜在可行解决方案。为了响应这一号召，该项目的主要调查人员注意到，尽管校园教职员工和管理人员每天都在教室和办公室与学生一起工作，但他们很少得到按人口统计或准备水平划分的学生总体成功数据。这个小组也很少被要求协作，为可行的解决方案提供建议。拟议的会议旨在通过创建一个专家社区来解决这两个疏忽，以解决STEM中拉美裔学生的教育途径。西班牙裔学生，无论是上两年制还是四年制大学，攻读STEM学位的脱轨几率都很高。障碍往往出现在过渡点，即从高中到大学，在大学早期，从社区学院到四年制大学。会议的重点是学生从高中到获得学士学位的成功毕业所必须经历的关键过渡。这些问题与全国各地的拉美裔学生有关，更广泛地说，与其他代表性不足的学生群体有关，他们在追求高等教育目标方面面临着重大挑战。会议的与会者将主要是来自当地高中和两年制和四年制大学的教职员工和管理人员，重点是那些为拉美裔学生服务的学生。会议的目标有两个：教育关键的教职员工和管理人员关于STEM中关于拉美裔学生的已知研究，并提出一套建议，帮助NSF确定本科STEM教育的关键挑战、最佳实践和潜在的可行解决方案。加州大学欧文分校(UCI)建议召集南加州的学者举行为期三天的会议，以响应NSF的呼吁，确定两年制和四年制拉美裔服务机构本科生STEM教育的关键挑战和机会。这次会议的最终目的是推进一个重要的国家目标：提高全国高等教育机构中拉美裔学生在STEM的保留率和毕业率。这次会议将是互动的，旨在既是一次学习体验，也是一次数据收集活动。主要主题是：1)将STEM专业学生从高中转到大学(2或4年制)；2)STEM学院(2和4年制)学生面临的初始挑战；3)社区学院学生面临的挑战；4)转学学生及其挑战；5)数据与分析：挑战与希望。在听取了一些专家的意见后，与会者将创建工作组，收集和组织可能得到NSF支持的循证解决方案。会议记录将以书面形式总结会议上提供的信息。在NSF设计HSI计划的建议将由该小组制定并广泛传播。评估将用于为会议议事程序收集信息。

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Dear Colleague Letter NSF 17-092: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) calls for projects to support conferences that will identify the most critical challenges and opportunities regarding undergraduate science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at HSIs, and potential actionable solutions that fall within NSF's mission, policies, and practices. In keeping with this call, the principal investigators of this project observe that while campus faculty and administrators work with students in their classrooms and offices every day, they are rarely presented with data about overall student success by demographic or preparation level. This group is also rarely asked to collaborate to build recommendations for actionable solutions. The proposed conference aims to address both these oversights by creating an expert community to address Educational Pathways for Hispanic Students in STEM. Hispanic students, whether attending a 2-year or 4-year college, experience a high rate of derailment from pursuing STEM degrees. Impediments tend to arise at transition points, namely from high school to college, in early college, and from community college to 4-year university. The conference focuses on the critical transitions that students must negotiate from high school to successful graduation with a Bachelor's degree. These issues are relevant to Hispanic students across the nation, and more broadly, to other groups of underrepresented students who face significant challenges in pursuing their higher education goals. Conference attendees will be primarily and faculty and administrators from local high schools and 2-year and 4-year colleges, emphasizing those that serve Hispanic students. The conference's goals are twofold: to educate key faculty and administrators about known research regarding Hispanic students in STEM, and to produce a set of recommendations to help NSF identify critical challenges, best practices, and potential actionable solutions for undergraduate STEM education. The University of California, Irvine (UCI) proposes to convene scholars from Southern California for a three-day conference in response to NSF's call for identification of critical challenges and opportunities in undergraduate STEM education at two-year and four-year Hispanic-serving institutions. The conference's ultimate purpose is to advance an important national goal: improving retention and graduation rates for Hispanic students in STEM in higher education institutions nationwide. The conference will be interactive and is intentionally designed to be both a learning experience and data collection exercise. Primary topics are: 1) Moving Students from High School to College (2 or 4-year) with a Declared STEM Major; 2) Initial Challenges for STEM College Students (2 and 4-year); 3) Challenges Specific to Community College Students; 4) Transfer Students and Their Challenges; and 5) Data and Analytics: Challenges and Promise. After hearing from a number of experts, the conference attendees will create working groups that will gather and organize evidence-based solutions that may be supported by NSF. Conference proceedings will be written summarizing information delivered at the conference. Recommendations for designing an HSI program at NSF will be developed by the group and widely disseminated. Assessment will be used to gather information for the conference proceedings.