Dive Brief:
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The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on Monday announced a STEMM Equity and Excellence initiative encompassing a broad range of efforts to expand access to educational opportunities and resources in science, technology, engineering and mathematics opportunities for people of color, rural communities, women, those with disabilities and the LGBTQ+ community.
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Joined by business, civic, academic, nonprofit, community-based and philanthropic partners, the Biden administration detailed the initiative during a White House Summit on STEMM Equity and Excellence, with the additional “M” in the usual “STEM” acronym representing medicine.
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In a statement, First Lady Jill Biden highlighted the importance of equipping the nation’s educators with the training, support and resources to prepare future generations for the STEM workforce, and expanding pathways for people of color to become STEM educators. Research has shown that having role models of the same race or gender in schools can expand students’ perceptions of the opportunities available to them.
Dive Insight:
A newly created STEMM Opportunity Alliance led by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation will oversee this effort, which currently has $1.2 billion in work and investment committed across more than 90 cross-sector institutional partners.
The STEMM Equity and Excellence initiative is focused around five pillars: ensuring equitable access and opportunities to contribute to science and technology, investing in the STEM teacher pipeline, bringing parity to investment in STEM opportunities for communities and institutions that have been historically underserved, acknowledging and dismantling bias and discrimination in the scientific community, and gathering more comprehensive data to close information gaps and increase accountability in STEM.
“Our Nation depends on a diverse, skilled STEM workforce that is ready to take on the challenges of the 21st century, from growing US leadership in space exploration to tackling the climate crisis,” said Vice President Kamala Harris in a statement. “That is why our Administration is committed to empowering and training the next generation of innovators and removing the barriers to these talented individuals achieving their full potential.”
Efforts specific to K-12 in the STEMM Equity and Excellence initiative include:
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A NASA Community Anchor awards program aimed at increasing local and regional access to STEM learning materials and opportunities for diverse youth populations, with a focus on those previously unexposed to NASA content and those historically underserved or underrepresented in STEM.
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Support from the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program to recruit, prepare and retain math and science teachers and teacher leaders in high-need school districts.
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A “Building Networks & Enhancing Diversity in the K-12 STEM Teaching Workforce” guidebook from the Smithsonian Institution, produced with funding from the National Science Foundation and private grants, to promote STEM teacher recruitment, retention and diversity.
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A $10 million partnership between the Micron Foundation — the philanthropic arm of data memory and storage company Micron — and the National Science Foundation to accelerate preparation, training and retention of STEM teachers, with an eye toward expanding access for people of color, women, veterans and those in rural communities.
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A Raise the Bar: STEM Excellence for All Students initiative from the U.S. Department of Education focused on implementing and scaling equitable STEM education opportunities from pre-K to higher education, supported by American Rescue Plan funds and other federal, state and local funding.
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Collaboration between the Smithsonian Science Education Center and experts nationwide on improving universal design for learning in K-12 STEM classrooms to ensure equitable access and support for students with disabilities.
