Advancing Racial Equity for Youth in Alternative Schooling Systems through Culturally Responsive STEM Programming

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

Racial disparities exist in school systems when Black and Latinx youth are disproportionately suspended or expelled and subsequently enter alternative schooling systems. Once in alternative systems, they may not receive the supports needed to pursue a range of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) trajectories and careers that align with their interests and strengths. This absence of supports can result in undermatching when high school students, who have great potential to contribute to STEM fields, do not apply for colleges that would prepare them for STEM careers of interest to them. To address this racial inequity, the University of Houston will co-develop and research a program that offers culturally responsive mentoring, tutoring, a summer research laboratory experience, and college and career readiness seminars to predominantly Black and Latinx high school students who are enrolled in alternative schooling systems in the city of Houston. Within this context, undergraduate pre-service teachers at the University of Houston will take coursework on anti-racist and culturally responsive pedagogies, and they will use these pedagogies as a framework to guide their interactions with the youth during their summer research laboratory, and in post-laboratory mentoring and STEM tutoring. Research will explore whether the pre-service teachers report increased self-efficacy in culturally responsive teaching, and whether and how the program shapes the high school students’ STEM identities and interest in STEM careers. Results will be shared with the local high school communities, and with the participating youth and their families, through open houses, school district fairs, and media, among other venues. The University of Houston will partner with 8 Million Stories, an alternative schooling system created to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline in the in the city of Houston, to co-design and implement a comprehensive program that supports college and career readiness in STEM careers among predominantly Black and Latinx students enrolled in the alternative system. Mixed methods research will explore whether and how participation in the program shapes the youths’ STEM identities, interest in STEM careers, and perceived readiness for college. To achieve this research purpose, the project team will analyze pre-and post-surveys of STEM identity and interest, as well as transcripts of focus groups and interviews with youth. Additionally, mixed methods research will explore whether and how participation in the program shapes the pre-service STEM teachers’ sense of self-efficacy toward culturally responsive teaching. To achieve this second research purpose, the project team will analyze pre-and post-surveys of the pre-service teachers’ culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs, in addition to transcripts from focus groups and interviews. Research findings will be distributed widely through networks, conferences, and journals designed for audiences of STEM teacher educators, STEM teachers, STEM educational researchers, and stakeholders in alternative school systems. To achieve further national impacts, the materials developed for the pre-service teachers will be disseminated widely to over 50 sites in the National UTeach Program. Collectively, these deliverables move toward racial equity in STEM education through advancing comprehensive approaches for supporting STEM career trajectories among youth who have been pushed out of mainstream school systems. This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate. This project is also funded by the National Science Foundation's HSI Program, which 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 goals. 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.