Texas needs more diversity in STEM

It’s back-to-school time, and this year as in some years past there has been an increased emphasis to include more women and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering and math, otherwise known as the STEM fields.

But if we truly want to get more women and underrepresented minorities into STEM, we need to do more. And not just about funding. We have to do more to build the Texas STEM pipeline.

President Obama recently announced new private-sector commitments of $240 million for STEM education programs and initiatives to increase the participation of underrepresented groups. These steps at the national level are admirable, but to make a significant and lasting difference in Texas, we must tackle diversity and bias directly.

We must address the fact that we lose these underrepresented children early in the education pipeline. We must consider a holistic approach to filling and sustaining that pipeline.

According to the College Board, less than 15 percent of Texas high schools offered the AP Computer Science course in 2013-2014. Of those who took the AP computer science exam, 24 percent were women, 21 percent Latino/Hispanic, and 4 percent black/African-American.

This represents a large disparity when we look at demographic data for K-12 students in Texas. More than half the student population is Latino, and almost half of the student population is composed of women.

If we wish to make significant strides to increase diversity in STEM, we have to fully commit to address obstacles, including lack of certified STEM teachers and low student/parent demand. We need to reform education so that some of the STEM fields, such as computer science, are a right and not a privilege.

Incentivizing more teachers to get certified to teach computer science will move the needle, but we still need to think broadly and strategically about outreach and engagement with policymakers.

For example, the State Board of Education should consider allowing courses such as the AP Computer Science Principles to satisfy the required curriculum for Texas high schools. Also, school boards should expand computer science education across all grades, as exemplified by the city of San Francisco.

Acknowledging that students have various interests and strengths, often influenced by their environment, is the first step toward engaging students in STEM.

Code.org and programs that use Scratch, robotics and game development, as exemplified in the Maker culture, are having tremendous success reaching young and diverse students. We need more of these in Texas.

We also have to do a better job of engaging families. This means going beyond marketing and promoting programs.

It means getting authorization, for example, from the district superintendent or a religious congregation to distribute program fliers, translated into various languages, and planning activities that engage parents in STEM education.

The shortage of underrepresented minorities and women as STEM professionals not only limits their participation in many well-paid, high-growth professions, it also deprives the nation of the full benefit of their talents and perspectives. It’s time Texas takes the lead on developing the STEM pipeline.

Kelly Gaither is director of visualization and Rosalia Gomez is education and outreach manager for the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

This story was originally published August 21, 2015 at 6:45 PM with the headline "Texas needs more diversity in STEM."