Promoting STEM Career Development Among Students and Parents of Color

Abstract

To date, millions of dollars have been spent in hopes of bolstering an increase among students of color pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professions. School counselors are uniquely positioned to contribute to this increase; however, they often miss the significance of their leadership role in improving STEM opportunities, particularly for students of color. The results from this qualitative study point to systemic variables that hinder such engagements and provide implications for school counselors and counselor education programs.

The School Counselor STEM Advocacy Survey (SC-STEM-AS)

“…In a qualitative study of the promotion of STEM career development, school counselors stated that their graduate programs included training on career development, but that they had received little to no STEM-related career education either in those programs or by their school districts (Shillingford et al, 2017). Shillingford et al (2017) shared that these counselors reported acquiring basic knowledge of STEM professions and necessary requirements and skills mainly from their own self-directed searches. These efforts to increase their knowledge of STEM professions suggest a realization of the importance of making students aware of STEM-related careers and recommended prerequisites.…”

Identity Development and Major Choice Among Underrepresented Students Interested in STEM Majors: A Longitudinal Qualitative Analysis

“…In terms of our reflexivity, the coding team (first and second author) discussed our positions as white women in different positions of power (professor, student), and the experience one of us had as a prior STEM major, and that neither of us was an under-represented ethnic minority, which may limit what we observed (see Levitt, Bamberg, Creswell, Frost, Josselson, & Suárez-Orozco, 2018). We immersed ourselves in the literature on URMs in STEM, including qualitative papers that privilege the voices of participants and papers by scholars of color (e.g., Nasir & Shah, 2011;Shillingford, Oh, & Finnell, 2017;Syed et al, 2011;Winston, Wall Rice, Bradshaw, Lloyd, Harris, Burford, ... & Burrell, 2004).…”

A Phenomenological Inquiry of College Engineering Students with Low-Income and Economic Marginalization: Implications for High School Counselors

“…The low rates of higher education attainment for students with LIEM raise concerns about whether the students who wish to pursue higher education have access to courses that support their readiness for college (U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2018). Unfortunately, a plethora of research has demonstrated a lack of support and even gatekeeping of underrepresented students from participating in rigorous academic programs and testing, such as the SAT test, Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and International Baccalaureate programs (Education Trust, 2022;Hirschi & Smith, 2023;Shillingford et al, 2018;Wanzo, 2014). Moreover, AP programming still mimics earlier patterns of curricular segregation within schools (Hirschi & Smith, 2023;Kolluri 2018;Malkus, 2016;Price, 2021), with students with LIEM being four times less likely to take AP courses compared to their non-economically marginalized peers (Chatterji et al, 2021;Siegel-Hawley et al, 2021).…”

“…Research on students with LIEM and the influence of high school counselors on their pathways to engineering is sparse (Brookover, 2021; Cabell et al, 2021). However, access to high school counseling services can play a critical role in determining which students pursue postsecondary engineering pathways (Brookover, 2021; Nikischer et al, 2016; Shillingford et al, 2018). School counselors’ belief about students with LIEM is one factor that can lead to differences in encouragement toward engineering (Oleka & Mitchell, 2022) and rigorous preparatory courses (Brookover, 2021).…”

“…However, this field has a legacy of excluding persons from diverse backgrounds and identities, including those with low-income and economic marginalization (LIEM; Massey et al, 2022). School counselors can advocate for the needs of students with LIEM in academic settings and in preparing for specific career fields such as engineering (Martinez et al, 2021; Shillingford et al, 2018).…”