Fostering an Equity-minded Student Success Culture in STEM Through Faculty Development

Santa Monica College, Santa Monica CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. With HSI program support, this Track 1 project at Santa Monica College (SMC) aims to identify, implement and investigate interventions that enhance the success and subsequent graduation of Hispanic and other underrepresented STEM students through the use of culturally responsive and effective classroom-based curricular materials and instructional practices focused on STEM. SMC will bring together the equity-focused work of the college's Science and Research Initiative and the Center for Teaching Excellence to implement a three-pronged approach that includes faculty professional development, pilot and assessment of research-based innovations, and dissemination of project outcomes both internally and externally. This project will target first year and other tenure track STEM faculty and provide them with release time so that they may participate in a 2-year professional development program and allocate the time necessary to develop and implement effective equity-minded interventions in their courses. By assessing the impact of both the innovations and the professional development, SMC will establish a toolbox of effective practices that can be used by STEM and non-STEM faculty, as well as a professional development strategy that can be sustained beyond the grant period for ongoing delivery to new faculty. The project will build upon research-based effective practice currently underway at SMC's Science and Research Initiative, as well as research from the field, to explore and further assess innovative approaches to community college student success in STEM. The project will identify effective strategies for engaging the faculty in change-focused activities designed to improve student success through critical transitions, thereby helping the numerous colleges across the country that are struggling to bridge the cultural divide between STEM faculty and a culturally diverse student population. The project will assess not only the impact of the proposed innovations on student ability to successfully transition, but also the degree to which the professional development contributes to teaching effectiveness, student sense of belonging and learning, and departmental and institutional culture. Project evaluation will assess the quality of the program and its ability to achieve grant goals and long-term project outcomes, as well as provide ongoing feedback to suggest improvements in implementation. The research focus of this project is to identify effective pedagogical strategies and methods of teaching that positively impact student success and successful transitions. The research will use a quasi-experimental design to assess each intervention, using a combination of both qualitative and quantitative indicators to answer both implementation and outcome evaluation questions. Project summative evaluation and research includes conducting a pre- and post- assessment of all students impacted by the project at both the beginning and end of each academic year, immediately after they graduate, and again one year after program completion. Project data will be disaggregated by race/ethnicity, income status, and gender. Project results will be disseminated at regional and national conferences. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also 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.