Attraction and Retention of Inner-city Under-represented Minority Students for Careers in STEM: Parent Perspectives

Abstract

The objective of this work is to identify the likely barriers to STEM success for students and parents within a specific inner city culture, provide a deeper understanding of these barriers and to suggest a solution that strategically removes or neutralizes these barriers. Surveys were issued to parents in the local community in order to gather opinions on the relevance of conventional questions and solutions suggested by the literature for this national problem. We hypothesized that, (i) not all research based initiatives reported to increase the STEM success of under-represented minorities are applicable to the inner city community, (ii) there are structural challenges unique to inner city that should be given greater value by the literature and (iii) other solutions can be formulated that directly address these unique challenges. The survey results indicate that inner city low income parents are just as interested in the success of their child in STEM areas as their wealthier counterparts, however they are aware of less STEM opportunities and are less able to take advantage of STEM pathways due to structural barriers that naturally emanate from living in a low income community. Inner city parents also reported systemic structural barriers that also inhibited their ability to support their children in STEM pursuits. The current solutions suggested by the literature are re-evaluated and adapted to incorporate insights based on the survey results in order to provide recommendations to overcome these barriers.

Parent and Family Influence on First-year Engineering Major Choice

“…Involvement of parents in engineering workshops and camps may be even more important for under-represented groups within engineering, as those students are less likely to have familial exposure to engineering. Research has shown that inner city under-represented minority parents are interested in STEM for their kids, but are often less aware of opportunities and also have barriers to participating in the activities [30]. As mothers (at least in Black families) have greater influence than fathers on academic identity development [17], targeting parental interventions (intended to increase parental awareness of engineering as a profession) at mothers may be more effective than targeting fathers, especially for under-represented minority students.…”

CardioStart Online: A Virtual High School Tissue Engineering Course

“…[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] The main reasons for students not enrolling are program costs and a lack of program availability, both of which were cited to be higher in rural areas. 14,15,21,22 Along with funding challenges, some programs are also not aligned with students interests, with only half of them offering stimulating STEM activities. 14,21 In order to allow for both more rigorous STEM involvement and to reach even more students, universities are looked to for additional programs.…”

“…14,15,21,22 Along with funding challenges, some programs are also not aligned with students interests, with only half of them offering stimulating STEM activities. 14,21 In order to allow for both more rigorous STEM involvement and to reach even more students, universities are looked to for additional programs. As a result, universities typically offer summer programs to high school students that allow them to explore STEM topics as laboratories and classrooms are utilized during the school year by undergraduate and graduate students.…”

“…Many universities offer summer programs to increase STEM interest to high school students as they have the available research and laboratory spaces for students to explore their interests with more in-depth STEM integration than after school programs. 21 Despite a seeming abundance of resources, the summer programs offered by many universities are limited to local students or are expensive due to a variety of program costs such as housing, personnel, and supplies needed. 19 The costs associated with running these programs also limit the number of students that can attend each program, which increases competition to attend and lowers accessibility.…”