NSF Awards: 2055362
This faculty development project guides educators in translating and applying theory and research on culturally responsive education to implement effective practices that are guided by knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes to improve the diversity of the STEM technical workforce. Cultural responsiveness validates and affirms by acknowledging a students’ diverse heritages and shifts to asset- vs. deficit-based approaches to working with diverse students. The faculty professional development model is being developed with input from experts in Culturally Responsive Instructional (CRI) methods, community college technician educators, students, and industry. Using virtual methods, the model is being pilot tested at Westchester Community College (WCC), a Hispanic-Serving institution. The model will be scaled for cost-effective implementation at 2-year HSIs. Over 20 WCC technician educators are benefiting directly from piloting the model and developing leadership skills in CRI methods, building capacity within its STEM technician programs to better support the diversity of students, industry demand for a diverse workforce, and WCC’s capacity for future development of technician education programs within NSF and other grant-supported programs. Annual national webinars provide strategies from the training for broad use by those working across the nation’s two-year college campuses.
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
The inspired and inspiring faculty leading this work demonstrate the importance of providing culturally-responsive education for technicians and others. All educators can benefit from the faculty development modules and webinars being produced by this project in collaboration with industry. Let's work together to get this right!
Ekundayo Shittu
"Money." No truer challenge than this. I like the acronym CREATE! The use of cultural knowledge takes the solution to the individuals. Fantastic! I voted!!
Tim Podkul
Senior Research Advisor
Thank you! This is really critical work and under-examined in the mainstream educational institutions. First Gen college-going students are often not differentiated in supportive ways. I would love to learn more about your model of students and graduates creating resources for professors to use when supporting first generation students. I would love to know where are some of these going to be available for broader use? Also curious if you have connected with the First2 project out of West Virginia that is funded through the NSF INCLUDES program. Some really interesting opportunities might exist to collaborate!
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
The faculty development modules will be available for dissemination in another year. For now, there are webinars that help educators get started better understanding what culturally relevant means and providing strategies that can be implemented immediately.
Webinars on this topic are currently available at www.Mentor-Connect.org. Click on Resources, then webinars. Use “HSI” search word to access - Webinar: Culturally Responsive Technician Education : Asset or Deficit Models (produced spring 2022) and Webinar: Culturally Responsive Instruction at HSIs- Strategies that Work (produced spring 2021).
Gerhard Salinger
Former Program Officer
The idea of gaining information from faculty who were first generation college students is very good. They can describe the help that they could have used. How can this be translated in to college-wide programs. Are you determining the crucial activities that faculty can realistically do in class to help first generation students overcome the institutional barriers and personal issues to succeed? What needs to be done so that the crucial activities can realistically become part of the college environment?
Juan Rodriguez Jr.
Community College
Hello Gerhard . Thank you for the question. This is our first year of the program. During the next couple of years we will be evaluating what works and what doesn't. Each year we are adding more faculty to participant in new cohorts and hopefully they will go back to their respective departments and will be able to disseminate the information to their respective colleagues.
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
Also, the HSI ATE Hub has produced webinars on this topic that are currently available at www.Mentor-Connect.org. Click on Resources, then webinars. Use “HSI” search word to access - Webinar: Culturally Responsive Technician Education : Asset or Deficit Models (produced spring 2022) and Webinar: Culturally Responsive Instruction at HSIs- Strategies that Work (produced spring 2021).
Laurie Miller Mcneill
Director of Institutional Advancement
This important work is being done with our collaborators, the Center for Broadening Participation in STEM at Arizona State University that includes Caroline VanIngen-Dunn, Cynthia Pickering, Dr. Mara Lopez, and Dr. Megan O'Donnell; Mentor Connect at Florence Darlington Technical College, that includes Elaine Craft, Rick Roberts and Pam Silvers; and the extended colleague network at Westchester Community College, that includes Juan Rodriguez, Sarah Belknap, Dr. Vanessa Morest, and Dr. Raymond Houston!
Subject matter experts for this project include Dr. Melissa Salazar, Escala Educational Services; Ed Conway, Director of the Learning Center at Con Edison; Dr. Amy Prevost, Wisconsin Center for Education Research UW-Madison; Dr. Jane Dong, California State University (LA); Dr. Diego Tibaquira, Miami Dade College; Dr. Elena Ortiz, Phoenix College (AZ); and Dr. Inez Moore, Riverside Community College (CA).
Samuel Colton
Awesome. Message? Yes. Helping change the narrative can begin by sharing our own journeys story. Having the conversation with colleagues about how we can change our students experience and understanding of what a STEM career is for them. Speaking to students about STEM career opportunities? No. Leading them through the institutional maze, championing them, mentoring, and inspiring them to the commencement ceremony. Yes.
Si se puede!
Yes we can.
One life, yours. Helping one life, theirs.
👍😇🙏 👏🎉👏🎉
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
Thank you Samuel! May I recommend two webinars on this topic that are currently available at www.Mentor-Connect.org. Click on Resources, then webinars. Use “HSI” search word to access - Webinar: Culturally Responsive Technician Education : Asset or Deficit Models (produced spring 2022) and Webinar: Culturally Responsive Instruction at HSIs- Strategies that Work (produced spring 2021).
The faculty development modules will be available for dissemination in about a year. This year, they are being pilot-tested.
Tanya Scotece
How true when the statements here we can relate. The facts presented here are accurate. It is truly an all encompassing journey and learning how to navigate the system can be even more challenging than taking and successfully completing classes.
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
Thank you for your comment. Perhaps you will be interested in webinars on this topic that are currently available at www.Mentor-Connect.org. Click on Resources, then webinars. Use “HSI” search word to access - Webinar: Culturally Responsive Technician Education : Asset or Deficit Models (produced spring 2022) and Webinar: Culturally Responsive Instruction at HSIs- Strategies that Work (produced spring 2021).
Margie Vela
CEO & President
Thank you for addressing the challenges that first-generation students face through training created by first-generation graduates turned professors/instructors! This is a much needed resource. One of the major challenges that exists is navigating higher education processes for enrollment, financial aid, etc. I am curious- do you have any plans for training administrators who can help eliminate some of the unintentional systemic barriers that create difficulty for first-gen students and their families? Also, are you working with parents of first-gen students?
Great program! Much needed!
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
You are absolutely correct in that all educators - including administrators - need to know what it means to be culturally responsive. Webinars on this topic designed for broad audiences are currently available at www.Mentor-Connect.org. Click on Resources, then webinars. Use “HSI” search word to access - Webinar: Culturally Responsive Technician Education : Asset or Deficit Models (produced spring 2022) and Webinar: Culturally Responsive Instruction at HSIs- Strategies that Work (produced spring 2021).
Margie Vela
Ann Beheler
Interesting to use faculty who were first-generation to modify programs to be more inclusive of first-generation students. Important work!
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
Thanks, Ann. The faculty at Westchester Community College are truly the wind beneath the wings of this project!
Pamela Silvers
I was inspired by this video. I am a first generation college student and can totally relate. Juan's story of the differences in his experience vs. his son's experience is so moving. Any instructor could learn from this video
Vivian Guilfoy
Very inspiring! Culturally responsive teaching represented by first generation students who are now part of the institutional fabric. Your approach is so important to a change process that promotes assets-based teaching and learning and brings together the key players who can make that happen. I will be interested to learn the outcomes and how your efforts have impacted other faculty, institutional policies, teaching processes, and student success. Thank you.
Laura Ettinger
Elaine and team, this is wonderful! What an important project and an inspiring, moving video. Thank you for your work!
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
Thank you for your comment!
Christine Delahanty
Thank you for your inspirational video and discussions. I really enjoyed listening to your stories. Usually, changes to remove barriers for students seem so monumental that it is difficult to know where to start. What first steps can you offer to a community college to begin the process of removing these barriers for students so that the process is feasible and results are shorter term?
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
Thanks, Christine! Early results indicate that this approach is even more transformative than I anticipated that it would be. The project offers an annual webinar to broaden understanding of what it means to be culturally responsive and share some easy-to-implement strategies. Two webinars on this topic are currently available at www.Mentor-Connect.org. Click on Resources, then webinars. Use “HSI” search word to access - Webinar: Culturally Responsive Technician Education : Asset or Deficit Models (produced spring 2022) and Webinar: Culturally Responsive Instruction at HSIs- Strategies that Work (produced spring 2021).
Christine Delahanty
Thanks so much Elaine! This information will be very valuable to us as we are developing our recruitment and retention plan for students from underrepresented groups into technician education programs. The annual webinar is an excellent idea! I learned a lot from the webinar I attended this spring, and really began to think about asset and deficit models. I want to learn more. Our goal is to extend pathways to these students through strategies that include outreach to groups such as students in high schools with a higher percentage of underrepresented groups, veterans, displaced workers, and career changing students to name a few. We are aware at the college, and have learned from our professional learning communities that recruitment strategies are only effective if students succeed. Retention includes providing the atmosphere and resources to assure that all students are successful. We are still working on our plan, and look forward to further establishing it.
Victor Minces
Thanks for your work. It is wonderful and necessary. I hope it spreads.
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
Your feedback is appreciated!
Chris Dede
Elaine,
this is an exciting project. We are planning to develop tools and insights from our work in the National Institute for Adult Education and Online Learning that may be helpful to you.
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Rosa Alfaro
The message you provide about changing mindsets is a great one! I'd be interested in knowing how faculty respond to the training. Students are a wonderful resource to help their peers succeed. CAHSI helps students help other students as well.
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
Thank you, Rosa. Participating faculty have just begun implementing culturally responsive strategies, and the reaction from their students has heightened their enthusiasm for embracing this approach. For example, instructors are finding that students who never engaged in class discussion now speak up. The project will have faculty development modules and results to share in the coming months. Stay tuned!
Rosa Alfaro
Vivian Guilfoy
You may find our work on creating the Equity Systems Change Compass relevant to your efforts. The tool is designed to begin with a central equity question that is vital to the stakeholders. The tool supports change makers through the complexities of thinking about both systems and their impacts on the real people involved, while also centering those same people purposefully in reconstructing systems of equity and opportunity in STEM fields. You can find more on our video site. The publication and the tool will be published in several weeks and available at stelar.edc.org. In the coming months, we will also be developing a resource guide to facilitate use of the tool to help communities of practice move through difficult converstions to actions.
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
Thank you for your note. I have watched your video and this framework will enhance our work and that of others going forward.
Michael Singletary
Thanks! The struggles of being first generation are real. And so many people will tell you how they did it twenty years ago but much has changed...especially the cost, which makes the stakes even higher.
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
What I love about our project is that the lead faculty are so passionate about the work because they have been there. Thank you for your comment!
Sarah Bichler
Hi Elaine, Sarah, Juan, and Laurie,
thanks for this very personal video! Waiting for our burger and fries order at a restaurant close to the San Diego convention center during AERA, a women started talking to my colleague and I, asking if the conference (we had the name tags around our necks) was about helping first generation students succeed. She shared her story with us, how she and a group of friends didn't go to university because they didn't have anyone telling them about their options, how to apply, that there are programs, courses, support... And how she encourages her niece to "break the circle", trying to help her as much as she can. We were so moved to learn about her story and I really appreciate learning a little bit about yours and your work!
What is one strategy or example of how you bring in your own experience, your own story to make your students learning experience culturally responsive?
Thank you!
Elaine Craft
Mentor-Connect
Sarah, thank you for your comments. Immediately useful strategies have been shared via webinars on this topic that are currently available at www.Mentor-Connect.org. Click on Resources, then webinars. Use “HSI” search word to access - Webinar: Culturally Responsive Technician Education : Asset or Deficit Models (produced spring 2022) and Webinar: Culturally Responsive Instruction at HSIs- Strategies that Work (produced spring 2021).