Icon for: Chris Boynton, EdD

CHRIS BOYNTON, EDD

Bay Area Regional Collaboration to Expand and Strengthen STEM (RECESS)
University of California San Francisco, Alameda County Office of Education
Public Discussion
  • Dawn O'Connor

    Guest
    March 20, 2017 | 08:44 a.m.

    Exciting to see cross-sector collaboration to address an enduring challenge we have had in STEM. Approaching the challenge from a systems perspective can provide a useful model for understanding the barriers that each group has had from their perspective in shifting the access to underrepresented groups while highlighting strategies that begin to address and make changes. Interested in learning more about the model.

  • Icon for: Kevin Brown

    Kevin Brown

    Facilitator
    Senior Research Scientist
    March 20, 2017 | 09:31 a.m.

    Yes, I agree that it is great to see so many different stakeholder groups involved! I am wondering about the extent to which the Silicon Valley tech companies are on board since they are such a unique (deep pocketed) resource in the area? I am also curious about the programs targeting the earliest ages? I am familiar with a program in Chicago that provides summer research experiences at a teaching hospital for underrepresented public school juniors, but one of the findings from that 10+ year effort are that the students enter the program without a good sense of what is required to get a STEM job. They call this misaligned ambitions. So it makes a lot of sense to me that providing exposure at much younger ages would help solve this problem. I assume it is too early in your program to see such effects but would be interested in learning more about what you have planned to start breaking down the cultural and institutional barriers that prevent young children from developing a realistic ambition to pursue a STEM career? 

  • Icon for: Erin Sanders

    Erin Sanders

    Director
    March 20, 2017 | 02:16 p.m.

    I am delighted to see this comprehensive regional approach to help broaden participation in STEM careers. We are taking a similar approach with our INCLUDES project in southern California.  

    I'd like to hear more about the approaches you're using to recruit and identify roles models as well as engage the students themselves. What were the major challenges you encountered when developing this model and in engaging various sectors? How did you overcome these challenges?  Who are the critical partners in a regional effort of this nature?  How do you measure success -- do you have a set of baseline data for the region that you are monitoring to see if the interventions work?

    Many thanks,

    Erin

  • Icon for: Lisa Lynn

    Lisa Lynn

    March 21, 2017 | 09:05 a.m.

    In agreement with the previous commenters, it's great to see this project taking a broad approach, in terms of both stakeholders and students' ages/educational levels. Erin asked about challenges you encountered engaging various sectors, and I have the same question, specifically about community organizations (i.e. those that are not educational institutions and not industry). What types of community organizations did you engage? How did you seek them out, and in what ways are they involved?

  • Icon for: J. 'Kemi Ladeji-Osias

    J. 'Kemi Ladeji-Osias

    Associate Professor
    March 21, 2017 | 10:14 p.m.

    It is exciting to see the work you are doing to ensure that all are represented in your regional STEM workforce. Has your group established shared metrics and a measurement system?

  • Icon for: Chris Boynton, EdD

    Chris Boynton, EdD

    Lead Presenter
    March 22, 2017 | 11:54 a.m.

    HI all,

    What great questions! 

    • We are in the process of gathering organizations that are already successful in order to determine best practices for certain contexts, ability to scale, and gaps in the spectrum from pre K - post grad.  It is our strategy to begin with the diverse riches already in communities and then puzzle about the gaps within communities. 
    • We have strong connections with community organizations through the work of Children's Hospital, UCSF and the Alameda County Office of Education as we have existing consortium's that already work on Career Pathways. 
    • We have not established metrics for the particular interventions as of yet because we will launch our collective effort together in the near future.  At the moment we are gathering our allies and partners. 
    • One of the tenets of collective impact work is that we will co-create the indicators with our partners, not articulate beforehand.  This is because we actually don't know what is keeping our community from joining the STEM workforce.  That is why we are listening to our community and gathering best known practices,

    We  believe that together we are better, and together we make the future.  I appreciate you and all your good thoughts and questions.

     

  • Icon for: Lisa Lynn

    Lisa Lynn

    March 23, 2017 | 09:54 a.m.

    Great point about consulting your partners on important outcomes. A similar thing came up in another discussion here (http://includes2017.videohall.com/presentations...).

  • Jeremy Roschelle

    Guest
    March 22, 2017 | 03:52 p.m.

    Great to see this work happening in the Bay Area! We're involved in INCLUDES over here at SRI (Menlo Park) -- let us know if we can help out.

  • Icon for: Cathy Manduca

    Cathy Manduca

    Director
    March 23, 2017 | 10:56 a.m.

    Wondering how you are keeping track of the results of your gathering process?  This seems like a challenge across projects.

    We're in the process of creating an online collection of programs that is searchable by audience, region, and program focus.  Should have a viewable version next week.  Would like to hear about other approaches and what information is proving to be most valuable.

  • Icon for: Jeff Forbes

    Jeff Forbes

    Facilitator
    Associate Professor of the Practice
    March 23, 2017 | 11:25 a.m.

    This project sounds far reaching and impactful. What is your process for recruiting and selecting potential partners in the area? How do you determine who best can help your project reach its goals?

  • Shamia Sandles

    Guest
    March 23, 2017 | 02:33 p.m.

    It is motivating to hear students speak up about how to support their success in STEM careers.

  • Nicki Sochacka

    Guest
    March 23, 2017 | 02:41 p.m.

    What a great video! I would love to learn more about the "collective impact model" and how you are implementing it in your project. Are there resources online that I can access to learn more?

  • Karen Peterman

    Guest
    March 23, 2017 | 06:09 p.m.

    Hi Nicki. Thanks for your comment! I am the external evaluator on our team. Early project definitions of CI were based on Kania & Kramer (2011) and Kania & Kramer (2013), and those still guide our approach to the project. We have also used the FSG web site extensively to identify resources that can guide our work. With regard to evaluation, in particular, we are relying on the process-related indicators and outcomes as defined by Preskill and her colleagues. The FSG web site is a treasure-trove of resources and training materials on this topic. 

  • Kate Casale

    Guest
    March 23, 2017 | 02:47 p.m.

    I am so proud to see my students sharing about their goals and opinions on STEM...that they are INCLUDED in this conversation is essential. 

  • Dr. Smith

    Guest
    March 27, 2017 | 11:52 a.m.

    Thanks for sharing what a simple, but important approach to increase the number of underrepresented students into STEM careers.  All the best!  Dwyane Smith, provost--Harris-Stowe State University.   

  • Malila Becton-Consuegra

    Guest
    March 27, 2017 | 12:05 p.m.

    Great to see collaboration in helping to increase the number of under represented students in STEM in the Bay Area! Looking forward to seeing how this will positively impact our students and communities. 

  • Icon for: Allison Rowe

    Allison Rowe

    Communications Coordinator
    March 27, 2017 | 05:04 p.m.

         I love the strategy you mention “to begin with the diverse riches already in communities and then puzzle about the gaps within communities.” This reminds me of a metaphor I heard at an NSF INCLUDES conference in Cincinnati (from Paul Schmitz, Senior Advisor of the Collective Impact Forum) that every person and every community is like a bottle of water, in that we all have fullness and we all have emptiness.

         I also admire your plan to first listen to your community to learn about what makes it difficult for historically underrepresented youth and their families to join the STEM workforce, as well as best known solutions. Might you be willing to share a few details about how you will go about this community listening?

  • Derek Gorshow

    Guest
    March 27, 2017 | 06:26 p.m.

    This work is so important. Every child needs to know that they are capable of being successful in math and engineering jobs. This program supports that belief and puts it into action. 

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.