Preparing a STEM Workforce through Career-Technical Education New Directions for Community Colleges, Number 178

by Smith, Dimitra Jackson; Starobin, Soko

• ISBN13: 9781119428336
• ISBN10: 1119428335
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2017-07-17
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

This volume examines STEM education, preparation, and career exploration--and the role of career and technical education (CTE) in preparing individuals for the STEM workforce. Highlighting avenues for success and exemplary practices, the volume covers topics such as:
1) Incorporating experiential learning activities for students in CTE-STEM programs,
2) Providing avenues and effective strategies for closing the skills gap for students in CTE-STEM through
funding and evaluation and assessment activities, 
3) Highlighting the experiences of women in CTE-STEM related programs, and
4) Implications for policy and practice.

This is the 178th volume of this Jossey-Bass quarterly report series. Essential to the professional libraries of presidents, vice presidents, deans, and other leaders in today's open-door institutions, New Directions for Community Colleges provides expert guidance in meeting the challenges of their distinctive and expanding educational mission.

Author Biography

Dimitra Jackson Smith is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership (Higher Education Program) at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

Soko Starobin is an education consultant/evaluator.

Table of Contents

EDITORS’ NOTES 5
Dimitra Jackson Smith, Soko Starobin

Introduces the issue theme of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, preparation, and career exploration and the role of career and technical education in preparing individuals for the STEM workforce.

1. Community College Pathways to the STEM Workforce: What Are They, Who Follows Them, and How? 9
Michelle Van Noy, Matthew Zeidenberg

Chapter 1 provides a landscape of community college pathways, characteristics of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students, and innovative approaches to curriculum, pedagogy, and course development and delivery for students in STEM programs.

2. A Researcher–Practitioner Partnership on Remedial Math Contextualization in Career and Technical Education Programs 23
Xueli Wang, Yan Wang, Amy Prevost

Chapter 2 highlights the essential nature of the role of partnerships in contextualized math course offerings at a large urban 2-year technical college.

3. An Evolving Entrepreneurship Simulation as a Vehicle for Career and Technical Education 35
Edgar E. Troudt, Stuart A. Schulman, Christoph Winkler

Chapter 3 provides insight into entrepreneurial simulation as a vehicle for career and technical education.

4. How Community Colleges Are Closing the Skills Gap Through CTE and STEM Funding Innovations 45
Kimberly Lowry, Tricia Thomas-Anderson

Chapter 4 discusses the role of funding in 2-year and 4-year institutions and highlight promising funding avenues to improve community college student success, performance, and graduation rates.

5. The Case for Evaluating Student Outcomes and Equity Gaps to Improve Pathways and Programs of Study 55
Debra D. Bragg

Chapter 5 highlights the importance of program evaluation in CTE and STEM pathways and programs for underserved student populations, with a particular focus on Pathways to Results, which began in Illinois.

6. Unwelcoming Classroom Climates: The Role of Gender Microaggressions in CTE 67
Jaime Lester, Brice Struthers, Aoi Yamanaka

Chapter 6 discusses gender inequities in CTE classrooms as well as faculty–student interactions and the overall landscape of genderrelated nuances in CTE courses via an ethnographic case study.

7. Recruiting and Retaining Women in Information Technology Programs (Practices and Challenges in Iowa Community Colleges) 79
Yu (April) Chen, Arlene de la Mora, Mari Kemis

Chapter 7 highlights the challenges and exemplary practices related to recruiting and retaining women in IT.

8. Implications for Policy and Practice: Summary of the Volume and Lessons for the Future of CTE Programs and STEM 91
Dimitra Jackson Smith

Chapter 8 concludes with a summary of the aforementioned chapters, implications for policy and practice, and lessons for the future related to CTE programs and STEM education.

INDEX 97