DCL: NSF INCLUDES: EAGER: Examining Collective Impact in a Community-University Partnership to Broaden Girls' Participation in Science from Middle School to High School Graduation

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project is conducting research that is applying the collective impact framework to examine specific components of a multi-organizational partnership, with emphasis on the backbone infrastructure and functionality of the collaboration. The multi-organizational partnership, which is focused on broadening the participation of minority teenage girls in STEM, involves K-12 schools, colleges and universities, industry, and STEM research organizations. An important contribution of the proposed research is to understand how this multi-organizational partnership functions without a traditional backbone organization. There are five research questions: (1) What key features (roles, relationship types, individual attributes) within and between organizations make the collaboration successful? (2) To what extent does this collaboration satisfy the five defining criteria of collaborative impact strategies? (3) What components of the organizational network within the partnership serve as backbone support? (4) How was the backbone developed and sustained over time in tandem with other collective impact elements? (5) To what extent are the features of the backbone replicable and scalable to other collaborations between universities and STEM-focused community organizations? This research was created in response to the NSF INCLUDES Dear Colleague Letter: Announcement of an Effort to Expand the NSF INCLUDES National Network (NSF 17-111). The DCL states that EAGER Proposals should produce findings and results that will generate new insights for the NSF INCLUDES National Network, suggest potential strategies for engaging NSF's existing broadening participation activities in the Network and/or highlight lessons learned that could inform the NSF INCLUDES Launch Pilots and Alliances as they develop. The NSF INCLUDES program focuses on catalyzing the STEM enterprise to collaboratively work for inclusive change. The research findings that are being generated from this project inform the collective impact framework for STEM broadening participation networks, and it will inform researchers, educators, families and industry about how to advance broadening participation efforts for inclusive STEM education, research and workforce development. Together with other NSF INCLUDES Network activities, this research is contributing to positive, transformative change within the U.S. STEM workforce and research community. 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.