NCSA NEWS

Report Says Universities Must Do More to Increase Minority Participation in SMET

released September 5, 2000

A ground breaking report on the achievements of underrepresented minorities in science, math, engineering, and technology (SMET), was recently published on the website for The Center for Excellence and Equity in Education (CEEE). The report was written by Richard Tapia, CEEE Director and Rice University professor of computational and applied mathematics, and Cynthia Lanius, CEEE executive director and a former mathematics teacher.

In the report, "Underrepresented Minority Achievement and Course Taking: The Kindergarten-Graduate Continuum," Tapia and Lanius conclude that very few efforts have succeeded in increasing the participation and retention of underrepresented minority American students in SMET academic concentrations.

The report questions the United States' solution to shortages of SMET students and researchers, which has been to import scientists and mathematicians rather than to look for a way to increase the participation of American minority students in SMET academics. Tapia and Lanius also criticize U. S. academic institutions' strong emphasis on SAT scores for college admissions. The heavy emphasis on test scores in admissions processes often excludes many female and minority students, who tend to score lower on standardized test but often have other qualifications that make them comparable or better college candidates. Other concerns addressed in the report are the low graduation rate of minorities in university-level engineering programs and the need for "affirmative development" in place of Affirmative Action to encourage all groups to achieve at high levels.

The CEEE is a partner in the Education, Outreach and Training Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (EOT-PACI). EOT-PACI is the outreach effort of the NSF's Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI) program, and is dedicated to making new technologies available to students and educators at all levels.

For the complete report see http://ceee.rice.edu/Books/DV/continuum/.

 

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