Building a national STEMM equity strategy that transforms the full ecosystem
By Travis York, PhD
In early March, members of our scientific community gathered in Washington, D.C., for the AAAS Annual Meeting. The theme of this year’s meeting, “Science for Humanity,” feels especially fitting to SOA’S mission: to build a STEMM ecosystem rooted in equity, inclusion, and scientific excellence to power progress, innovation, and prosperity for all by 2050.
At the Annual Meeting, I was energized to facilitate an SOA-hosted listening session that asked participants for feedback and ideas related to the national strategy we are co-constructing to achieve equity in STEMM. The rich conversation spanned topics like:
K-12 STEMM teacher production and curriculum;
Post-secondary STEMM environments;
The importance of data and accountability.
Throughout our discussions, a clear conclusion emerged: we must take an ecosystem approach to achieve equity and excellence in STEMM.
An ecosystem approach means identifying and addressing the myriad ways underrepresented communities are locked out of STEMM education and careers. Rather than placing individual band-aids over systemic problems, we must employ a cross-sector approach to identify and rectify the underlying system challenges at hand. This approach allows us to focus on barrier removal to redesign STEMM talent development pathways so that they support all individuals pursing STEMM careers. This means addressing each and every way an individual can be excluded from the STEMM ecosystem, from lack of quality early education up through bias and discrimination in the workplace.
The goals of this national plan will require “all-hands-on-deck” to construct and implement a national strategy that scales the successes we have seen and addresses the gaps we know still exist.
In our listening session:
K-12 STEMM faculty discussed the need to increase not just the number of K-12 teachers, but specifically the number of teachers trained to use evidenced-based and inclusive STEMM curricula.
We discussed the need to increase the availability of high-quality STEMM instruction across the country especially in subjects like algebra for middle schoolers – an essential foundation for the development of later career skills both in and outside of STEMM. Early access to STEMM subjects and concepts for children has been proven to improve attitudes toward math and science, increasing confidence in pursuing STEMM-related fields and encouraging a STEMM-literate society.
Post-secondary and research enterprise leaders shared strategies and goals for promoting – and tracking – inclusion and belonging for all students in higher education STEMM programs.
This goal was further informed by suggestions for data and accountability, including consistent and uniform self-evaluation of higher education STEMM environments.
The success of our national strategy hinges on this sort of multidirectional construction and implementation – where we consider what aspects of the strategy happen in local communities, where the work is context-relevant, and what aspects of the strategy are enabled or enhanced by partnerships with national organizations and government.
At SOA, we look forward to continuing our ecosystem approach to achieving equity in STEMM, including through an upcoming workshop at the STEM Ecosystem Annual Meeting that will help inform the relationship between the local and national work of our shared strategy and our next SOA event hosted by the New York Hall of Science on April 18th.
Travis T. York, Ph.D., is the Director of Inclusive STEMM Ecosystems for Equity & Diversity (ISEED) at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Within AAAS, Dr. York provides leadership to a team that collaborates to create change in over 20 grant-funded projects and initiatives including the STEMM Opportunity Alliance, AAAS’s SEA Change Initiative, Science in the Classroom, ARISE Network, S-STEM Initiative, L’Oreal USA Women in Science Fellowships, and HBCU Making & Innovation Showcase.