Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education Supporting Equitable and Effective Teaching (2025) / Chapter Skim
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2 Institutional Context of Post-Secondary STEM Education
2 Institutional Context of Post-Secondary STEM Education
Pages 31-48
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From page 31... ...
The specific information chosen to be addressed in this chapter is intended to provide context for the reader navigating later chapters of the report, especially those on student pathways, professional learning and development, and the role of institutions in systemic change to support equitable and effective teaching. This context helps in understanding that as the student population has grown and changed over time, policies and structures have not kept pace with the shifts, and this contributes to many students still not having equitable access to STEM learning opportunities.
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Undergraduate Students Chapter 1 described the broad view the committee takes of who counts as an undergraduate STEM student student -- a view that includes those taking a single course, seeking a certificate, or working towards a degree in a STEM major. In the paragraphs below, we share selected statistics on the undergraduate population as a whole, highlighting specific details on undergraduate STEM students where those are available.
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. Nearly three-quarters of Hispanic/Latins/a/o undergraduate students are among this group, as well as approximately two-thirds of Black or African American students (RTI International, 2023)
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degrees earned by underserved minorities increased between 2011 and 2020, degree attainment saw uneven growth and representation between racial groups. For example, one study reported that 40% of Black and 37% of Latina/o students switch majors before earning a STEM degree, compared with 29% of White STEM students (Riegle-Crumb et al., 2019)
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. Broadening access to STEM education and removing barriers that make it difficult for underserved populations to attain STEM degrees ultimately leads to the diversification not only of the student population but of the STEM workforce.
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. Undergraduate students today learn in many different types of settings.
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were established starting in the 19th century to counter the exclusion of Black students from other institutions. Notably, though HBCUs comprise only three percent of all post-secondary institutions, they account for eight percent of Black undergraduate enrollment and are responsible for about 13% of all bachelor's degrees earned by Black students (The White House, 2024)
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enrolled about 17,000 undergraduate students in 2022, (Postsecondary National Policy Institute, 2024)
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. For example, while underrepresented minority students earn 26% of STEM Bachelor's degrees, only 10% of STEM faculty at four-year institutions come from underrepresented minority backgrounds (NSF, 2023; Bennet et al., 2020)
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Some institutions have significant endowments that support their operations; others receive significant research funding from federal and state governments, industry, and foundations, which provide prestige and influence policies and priorities. Other important sources of funding include support from state legislatures for public institutions, tuition revenue, auxiliary activities (e.g., athletics)
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HISTORY CONTINUES TO INFLUENCE TODAY'S APPROACHES TO EDUCATION Understanding past decisions, agendas, and beliefs is essential in approaching and achieving equitable and effective teaching in present-day undergraduate STEM education. As mentioned in Chapter 1, despite some recent progress, the pathways and outcomes of students can still be predicted by factors such as their race, ethnicity, gender, and family income.
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From page 42... ...
This expulsion took many forms: settlers exposed Indigenous people to harmful illnesses that led to death; they disturbed the natural ecosystems and exploited natural food supplies; they used weaponry to murder Indigenous people; and they pushed Indigenous communities off their native land to build colonial communities, which frequently involved building colleges (Dunbar-Ortiz, 2023; Wolfe, 2006)
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details how college presidents and faculty members who enslaved Black people forced them to work on campus. Through these actions, Europeans proclaimed themselves superior -- deserving of love, respect, education, health, and limitless possibility -- while Black and Indigenous people (and later other People of Color)
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The second Morrill Act of 1890 recognized and addressed this limitation, but primarily did so by creating Black institutions instead of expanding access for Black students to existing institutions. These are some of the institutions the Higher Education Act of 1965 federally recognized as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
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. The 1965 Higher Education Act creating the federal designation of HBCUs and allocating them some dedicated funding also marked a change in overall federal support for higher education by providing grants and access to loans that increased access to higher education for students from a variety of family incomes and zip codes (Higher Education Act, 1965)
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Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, 1984) helped shift vocational education to career and technical education (CTE)
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Conclusion 2.1: Undergraduate STEM education occurs in many types of institutions with varying missions, goals, resources, and student populations; but all these types of institutions share a responsibility for providing high-quality STEM learning experiences for students. Conclusion 2.2: Many longstanding policies and practices in undergraduate STEM education have produced, perpetuated, and exacerbated differences in opportunities, experiences and outcomes among post-secondary STEM students from underserved population groups.
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48 TRANSFORMING UNDERGRADUATE STEM EDUCATION Conclusion 2.3: Recent changes in the demographics of the student population, college costs, and pressures on higher education to meet the demands of the 21st century STEM workplace underscore the need to re-evaluate instructional practices in STEM and improve the learning experiences of undergraduate students in STEM courses. Prepublication copy, uncorrected proofs
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