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The growth rate of STEM occupations in the next ten years is expected to be twice that of other jobs, so ensuring that all students in the current public school system have access to these careers is critical. Speakers at the EMS briefing discussed novel initiatives to engage kids in STEM occupations, as well as some of the barriers in classrooms.

Employment in STEM occupations is expected to increase by almost 11 percent, compared to a projected 2.3 percent change in non-STEM occupations. The US faces a shortage in its homegrown workforce. Roughly 43 percent of STEM workers in the US are from overseas. Careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are among the highest-paying jobs in the US. Workers in these fields earn over US$100,000 a year, in comparison to the national wage average of US$46,000. For the United States fostering a diverse and highly skilled workforce capable of driving the next wave of breakthroughs is critical. 

“Parental engagement and training in the early years, seem to make a big difference,” Dr. Louis Freedberg, interim CEO of EdSource said. “Society as a whole has to promote an early exposure to math and science. 

An important reason why African-American, Hispanic, indigenous and low-income students are underrepresented in STEM industries is that their families cannot provide relevant support and environment, such as participating in summer programs focused on science, he said. 

“It is also necessary for students to understand the importance of STEM courses like math, science engineering and learning in the classroom and their relevance to high paying careers,” he said. 

The Compton Model

The aim of the high school districts is to be a part of the global economy, “When I visited Google I noticed that the majority of the individuals working there were white Americans not Asians. That inspired me to think that our students must see themselves as capable of learning those jobs. That’s really what formed the basis of what we attempted to create in Compton,” said Dr. Darin Brawley, Superintendent, Compton Unified School District., 60.9 percent of students in the school district are economically disadvantaged and 100 percent are from the minority community. 

The high schools in the Compton area of Los Angeles are in partnership with RTX, the world’s largest aerospace and defense company. “It’s a unique partnership through our Academy program with the purpose of increasing and diversifying their workforce within Compton,”  he shared.  

Girls who Code

“Unless there’s an intentional focus on underrepresented communities as well as low income schools and they have access to these technologies we will see the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. We want to make sure that our students are getting access to all of the new AI tools, are learning how to use it, feel comfortable talking about it and are preparing themselves for the new jobs of the future because we know that the landscape is changing quickly,” saidDaniel Voloch, Chief Program Officer, Girls Who Code.

Girls Who Code’s aims to attain gender parity at entry-level computing jobs by 2030. 

It is important for the girls to have early role models. “You can’t be what you can’t see and we don’t see the representation we need to see. We’re often exposed to leaders like Albert Einstein, Mark Zuckerberg or Neil Armstrong but we don’t learn enough about people like Catherine Johnson whose early mathematician calculations helped NASA launch its first orbitals,” he said. “We see the consequences of these erasers when we look at the demographics of the tech workforce today. Women make up only 26  percent of the tech workforce and black and Latinx women make up just 5 percent.” Girls Who Code is working to change that by getting as many girls as possible access to free high-quality coding education and support. In total more than half a million girls have gone through their programs, learning to code. 

More than half of their students come from historically underrepresented groups “Our students earn computer science and related degrees at seven times the national average and that’s nine times for historically underrepresented groups,” he said. 

We do engage at every step of the pipeline from as young as third grade all the way up through early career. , our free clubs program from students from 3rd to 12th grade sparks interest and engages students in early experiences with computer science by introducing them to project based coding activities, highlighting women in technology and helping our students develop communities. Anyone can start, join or facilitate a club regardless of their experience with computer science.

Their summer programs serve more than 8000 high school students from around the world and students have the opportunity to learn how to code while focusing on game design, cyber security or AI. students also get the opportunity to learn about real world applications of technology through workshops with our corporate partner volunteers. 

Girls are powerful changemakers, and we need their voices in STEM. 

Teacher’s implicit bias needs to be addressed

Dr. Yasemin Copur-Gencturk, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, University of Southern California who holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics summa cum laude, and master’s degrees in education and statistics pointed out that stereotypes based on gender and race are deeply rooted in society, leading people to the belief that certain gender and racial groups are more gifted in math than others. “Unfortunately they shape our understanding, perceptions, interactions,and decisions. Teachers are no different.”

Copur-Gencturk’s research focuses on identification and development of the knowledge needed for quality teaching and student learning and understanding the role of teachers’ knowledge and implicit beliefs in equity in mathematics classrooms. 

One of her findings is that teachers who belief that gender equity has already been achieved tend to contribute to gender biases in classrooms.“Raising awareness of gender inequity and how our cultures subconsciously promotes sexist and racist beliefs which then influences our perceptions, interaction and decisions is the one of the first steps in combating implicit bias,” she said. 

Additionally, teachers and educators need to give struggling students a chance. “Research has repeatedly shown that teachers are more likely to underestimate the mathematical ability of students of color and girls when they get a math problem wrong while offering more leniency to male white students in the same situation.”  

Finally, targeted interventions need to be developed to help teachers overcome implicit bias in mathematics classrooms. Generic bias training is insufficient to address specific issues in subjects such as mathematics. 

“The teachers are not aware of their bias.”