Influence of Industry-Informed STEM Pathways on Student Experiences and Outcomes in Non-Selective Urban School

该项目将推进“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目的工作，以更好地理解和促进提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学（STEM）领域追求职业的动机和能力的实践。这个为学生提供行业信息的STEM途径是一个关注有色人种和女性在STEM领域代表性不足的项目。它采用以学生为中心的方法来调查ITEST的指导性问题，这些问题涉及：追求STEM职业的动机和准备，教学和课程创新，以及与企业和行业的合作关系。波士顿卓越计划与教育发展中心和波士顿的STEM行业合作伙伴合作，将为300名9-12年级的学生设计、开发、研究和迭代三个行业信息的STEM途径：电气工程、数字设计和计算机编程。该项目的意义和重要性在于对校内职业学院和包容性STEM高中的大规模研究，这些研究表明，以学校为基础的职业道路可能是一种有希望的策略，可以提高代表性不足群体的STEM职业兴趣和其他教育和生活成果。迄今为止，很少有干预措施试图在非选择性学校中建立这样的途径，以服务于学生群体：(a)主要包括低收入的有色人种学生，其中许多是英语学习者，(b)没有表达对STEM的兴趣，(c)可能在先前的STEM知识方面存在差距。因此，对于如何在更广泛的人群中实施职业道路，或者如何将组成部分（如课程作业、实习）与学生追求STEM职业的兴趣和能力联系起来，人们知之甚少。此外，很少有研究对学生进行长期跟踪，以了解他们的STEM兴趣和能力是如何受到各种途径要素的影响的。通过对以STEM为重点的高中、职业道路和社会认知职业理论的研究，该项目有可能促进学校如何培养和维持STEM兴趣和能力的知识，这些学生来自代表性不足的群体，他们可能在STEM和/或语言准备方面存在差距。电气工程、数字设计和计算机编程的每条路径都将包括一系列技术丰富的、基于项目的课程、实习、职业讲座、公司参观和就业准备研讨会。使用设计研究方法，合作伙伴将在波士顿一所非选择性开放招生的城市公立STEM学校中研究：(a)职业道路设计，(b)学生经历，以及(c)学生对STEM的兴趣和能力之间的关系。通过使用途径方法关注学生体验的组织，合作伙伴将开始回答以下问题：在非选择性的城市公立STEM学校中，成功的行业信息STEM职业路径的基本组成部分是什么，其中成功的结果是学生毕业时有兴趣和能力满足波士顿STEM驱动经济的劳动力需求？迪尔伯恩STEM学院以社区为基础，吸引了大量佛得角人和来自多尔切斯特和罗克斯伯里的移民。66%的学生是英语学习者，75%的学生来自低收入家庭。当地的STEM公司将帮助设计该项目，为学生创造基于行业的体验，并扩大女性、黑人、拉丁裔和/或来自低收入家庭的年轻人在STEM工作场所的参与。数据收集将包括每年对所有学生进行调查，以及对两组学生进行多年的纵向数据收集（焦点小组、观察、课堂评估）。分析将检查项目设计与学生STEM兴趣和能力之间的关系。第三年将进行探索性定量研究。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。

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). This Industry-Informed STEM Pathways for Students is a project concerned with underrepresentation of people of color and women in STEM fields. It uses a student-centered approach to investigate the ITEST guiding questions related to: motivation and preparedness to pursue STEM careers, instructional and curricular innovations, and partnerships with business and industry. The Boston Plan for Excellence, in collaboration with the Education Development Center and Boston-based STEM industry partners will design, develop, study, and iterate on three industry-informed STEM pathways for 300 students in grades 9-12: electrical engineering, digital design, and computer programming. The significance and importance of the project is large-scale studies of within-school career academies and inclusive STEM high schools that suggest that school-based career pathways may be a promising strategy for boosting STEM career interest and other educational and life outcomes among underrepresented groups. Few interventions to date have attempted to build such pathways within a non-selective school to serve a student population that: (a) includes mostly low-income students of color, many of whom are English learners, (b) has not expressed interest in STEM, and (c) might have gaps in prior STEM knowledge. Therefore, there is little knowledge about how career pathways might be implemented with a wider range of populations, or how components (e.g. coursework, internships) relate to students' interest in and capacity to pursue STEM careers. Moreover, few studies have tracked students over time to understand how their STEM interests and capacity have been shaped by various pathway elements. Informed by research on STEM-focused high schools, career pathways, and social cognitive career theory, this project has the potential to advance knowledge of how schools can develop and sustain STEM interest and capacity among students from underrepresented groups who may have gaps in STEM and/or language preparation. Each pathway in electrical engineering, digital design, and computer programming will include an aligned sequence of technology-rich, project-based courses, internships, career talks, company tours, and job readiness workshops. Using design research methodology, the partners will examine the relationships between: (a) career pathway design, (b) students' experiences, and (c) students' STEM interest and capacity within a non-selective, open-enrollment urban public STEM school in Boston. By focusing on the organization of student experiences using a pathway approach, the partners will begin to answer the question: What are the essential components of a successful industry-informed STEM career pathway in a non-selective, urban public STEM school, wherein success results in students graduating with the interest and capacity to fill workforce needs in Boston's STEM-driven economy? The neighborhood-based Dearborn STEM Academy draws a large Cape Verdean and immigrant population from Dorchester and Roxbury., 66% of students are English learners and 75% are from low-income families. Local STEM companies will help design the project, create industry-based experiences for students, and broaden participation in STEM workplaces by youth who are female, Black, Latino, and/or from low-income families. Data collection will include surveying all students each year, as well as multi-year longitudinal data collection (focus groups, observations, classroom assessments) for two student cohorts. Analyses will examine associations between program design and students' STEM interest and capacity. An exploratory quantitative study will be conducted in year three.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.