Report: Equity and Inclusion STEM Thought Leaders' Summit

From October 23-24, 2018, the National Science Foundation and the American Association of Community Colleges held the first ever Equity and Inclusion STEM Though Leaders' Summit in Washington, D.C. A report on the proceedings, presentations, and takeaways from the summit was just published, and it provides an in-depth examination of issues surrounding equity and inclusion in STEM education from colleges in the ATE Community. Some of the topics discussed involved equity gaps; recruitment and retainment strategies for underrepresented populations; professional development; and professional development, to name a few.

Summit sessions were attended by faculty and administrator teams from 15 colleges who were all new to the ATE program. The sessions were designed to be highly engaging, drawing feedback and insight from community college educators and leaders about these pertinent issues. Those who attended represented six rural colleges, four federally designated Predominately Black-serving institutions, eight federally designated Hispanic-serving institutions, and two federally designated Asian American and Native Pacific Islander-serving institutions.

Attendees of the summit confronted the issues surrounding equity and their perspectives on how equity is practiced at their institutions. Heather J. Belmont, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, FL, pointed out that equity is not a universally understood concept. After becoming vice president in 2018, Belmont surveyed employees at Indian River about equity. All too often the responses showed people mistakenly thought equality and equity were synonymous. "I treat everyone the same. That's not equity," Belmont said emphatically. "We really still have a lot of work to do around what equity means and how we provide instruction to our students so everybody can succeed ...We have to make sure that we continue to have these tough conversations..." Belmont said. She recommends professional development focused on equity and inclusion for every college employee.

Several inspiring case studies are presented in the report, including a story from the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) regarding the implementation of their Program Improvement Process for Equity (PIPE) program in Oregon. Ben Williams, Chief Executive Office of NAPE, talked about challenges of equity in STEM education for underrepresented groups. "When we are intentional about creating space for equity in STEM to be at the center of how we do STEM education, that's where it happens," Williams said, explaining that aiming for high-quality programs is not enough. "Because what often happens is people hang their hat on quality, they hang their hat on great programs, but they don't make the necessary criterion of quality for equitable outcomes or equitable access."

One of PIPE's pilot projects involved increasing female enrollment in welding courses at Roseburg High School in Roseburg, Oregon. Before launching an intervention to increase female enrollment in its welding program, educators at Roseburg High School conducted an equity audit of the welding program that had four female students in 2015. The audit found that all of the welding equipment in the lab was large, which made it difficult for students with small or very large hands to master welding techniques. The school added welding equipment ranging from small to extra-large, making the equipment more accessible to people of varying sizes. In addition, the school coordinated a Freshman Cruise for all incoming freshman to visit the school's career and technical education (CTE) programs, which included welding demonstrations by the four girls enrolled in the program. The next semester, 38 girls enrolled in welding courses; 40 girls were enrolled in welding courses in 2018.

To read about more case studies, presentations, resources, and proceedings, check out the full report on the summit. For more info on Oregon schools' use of NAPE's PIPE process read the Promising Practice report.