ASSESSING EQUITABLE ACCESS TO STEM FIELDS OF STUDY

This chapter illustrates how equity-minded assessment practice can be carried out collaboratively by a diverse group of assessment researchers and administrators who wish to involve faculty and administrative colleagues in critical assessment work with a focus on racial equity. To address deep-seated cultural challenges, organizational change strategies, such as equity-minded assessment, are needed. The action research component included a focus on producing equitable access to undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) bachelor’s degree majors. Research on change in STEM fields indicates that direct faculty involvement in college initiatives is necessary to sustain cultural change because faculty rejects what appears to them to be superficial “quick fixes” from outsiders. The action research goal was to design an equitable and transparent exception process for use in determining admission to high-demand, restrictive majors, which could also be implemented in those major fields of study with more flexibility in admissions.