It’s time we take a systemic approach to advancing racial equity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in community colleges. Community colleges are crucial to meeting the demand for STEM talent in the U.S. and overwhelmingly serve as the primary pathway into postsecondary education for historically underserved students, particularly racially minoritized students. However, math courses required for STEM (we call this "the STEM math pathway") have long been recognized as a barrier for our future scientists. One challenge mathematics faculty and their administrators face is that multiple areas of the STEM math pathway need attention, like ensuring students are accurately placed into their initial mathematics course and optimizing the STEM math course sequence and required course materials. A second and potentially bigger challenge is designing the STEM math pathway for equity from the outset so that programs, structures and strategies disproportionately benefit racially minoritized students.
This video showcases an Institutional Self-Assessment Tool that can transform how colleges identify and remove barriers for racially minoritized students in the STEM math pathway. The Tool contains a validated set of equity practices in five different domains: math placement, STEM math pathway courses, instruction (mathematical and relational), out-of-class student support, and institutional responsibility.
The Institutional Self-Assessment Tool was developed by the research team from the Transitioning Learners to Calculus in Community Colleges project (TLC3, NSF IUSE #1625918, 1625387, 1625946, and 1625891). The domains and practices are based on research including a national survey of community college mathematics chairs and case studies of minority-serving community colleges. This Tool is designed to be sensitive to your institutional context and can be completed by individuals working alone or in collaboration. It can be used to foster discussion, reflection and, ideally, an action plan to build racial equity in the STEM math pathway at your college. There is no time like now to take action.
The Transitioning Learners to Calculus in Community Colleges (TLC3) PI team consists of Helen Burn, Vilma Mesa, J. Luke Wood, Eboni Zamani-Gallaher and Soko Starobin. Other personnel include Reka Barton, Darielle Blevins, Claire Boeck, Anne Cawley, Frank Harris, III, Gabrielle Gerhard, and Chauntee Thrill.
