Q Interview: Ray McGhee on Underrepresented Youth, STEM Pathways, and Workforce Development (Part 1)
Welcome to The Q — an interview series where we invite the Equal Measure team, clients, and colleagues from the field, to share their insights on evaluation, philanthropic services, emerging trends in the social sector, and more. In this interview, we sat down with Ray McGhee, who recently joined the Equal Measure team as a Senior Director. For nearly two decades, Ray has led research and program evaluations on efforts to improve students’ transitions from secondary school to postsecondary school and to the workforce. In part one of this two-part interview, Ray discusses underrepresented youth, STEM pathways, and workforce development.
To kick it off, Ray, for nearly two decades you’ve led and contributed to evaluations of programs that broaden underserved individuals’ participation in STEM. What have you learned from that work?
Ray: Overall, I think there’s been some significant progress in the last 20 years or so. I would say that there’s been a more explicit emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion in terms of empowering different population groups. Women in particular have really benefited from that, as there are many programs that support their inclusion in STEM education, especially in computing and engineering. My daughter is a beneficiary of that. She is studying computer science and has been a part of a number of programs that have tried to help women gain access to networks, and to understand what it takes to thrive in STEM fields.
In addition, I think the policy landscape has definitely shifted, especially with the development of the Common Core standards, which emphasize the depth of learning rather than the breadth of content. The next generation science standards in particular have really helped to focus science education, and provide a wonderful guide for developing scientific inquiry skills as well as STEM-based content knowledge for students. I think underserved individuals have been able to benefit from that.
What about links between STEM education and workforce development?
Ray: One of the major drivers for STEM education has been the urgency of increasing the economic competitiveness of the U.S. in a growing global economy. STEM is seen as central to that goal by nurturing more engineers, more technicians, and more computer scientists, among other professions. There’s a sense that there’s some unfulfilled, untapped potential, looking across all the different population groups. That’s why I think the field’s more explicit emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion has been really positive. This potential, combined with empowering opportunities in STEM fields, will hopefully enable us to use all of our population to address our economy’s workforce needs.
So along with these positive trends, are you seeing any challenges?
Ray: I would say there are still some challenges we face in addressing the needs of underrepresented communities. In particular, I think there is a lack of a systems approach to changing this environment. While there are institutions that do a particularly good job at serving underrepresented populations, I think developing networks of institutions — and seeing this work take place at different levels — is something that could be quite impactful. Take for example, working towards more alignment between the K-12 system and the postsecondary system. Although that’s happening a bit, it’s not happening as much as it should, and it can be addressed through a networked approach.
Traditional ways of viewing the challenge of underserved individuals participating in STEM have been expressed through a pipeline metaphor, like ‘There’s not enough people in the pipeline.’ I think this metaphor is probably a bit simplistic, because there are multiple on-ramps for underrepresented groups to participate and benefit from STEM education. So because of that, I think there’s a need to re-conceptualize what it takes to target individuals at all levels to encourage their participation in STEM.
Could you share some examples of these on-ramps?
Ray: I think there are a couple of on-ramps that are relevant, and they’re only just being built as we speak. For example, the career pathways effort that’s going on has opened up different avenues for underrepresented groups to get involved by envisioning an entry point or on-ramp into secondary school, and then perhaps another on-ramp to the community college system.
When you look at the traditional K-12 system — elementary, to secondary, to post-secondary — there have been some challenges. In many instances, when kids enter middle school and high school, many of them don’t really latch on to STEM. That’s an important time for kids to really develop an interest in STEM in the formal school system, but many don’t; they deal with math phobia or other more systemic barriers.
Given the way STEM and science works, there are all these prerequisites that are needed and that you build on in order to move into more advanced courses. That shuts out a lot of students from coming through the system. Career pathways programs provide an alternative way for students who may not have had adequate preparation, say, in middle school, to try again and to build their skills. They can learn how their skills and their education may lead to a certificate program or an Associate’s degree program, which can allow them to earn a living and do meaningful work. I think that’s been a promising on-ramp in STEM pathways.
What about the role of youth development programs as on-ramps?
Ray: There are youth development programs that have a career exploration emphasis. These programs engage kids in hands-on learning, giving them a chance to really experience STEM and have fun in the context of learning about science. The Maker Movement, which is growing more and more, has some potential for that, working with kids in middle grades and getting them involved in hands-on science.
I think those are some additional on-ramps that might provide access to students on the path to going deeper into STEM, in particular, postsecondary STEM education and credentialing. Through a systems approach of developing networks of institutions, we can advance these on-ramps with alignment efforts between the K-12 and postsecondary systems — and impactfully reduce systemic barriers faced by underrepresented groups to participate and benefit from STEM education.
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