Barriers and Influencers for African-American and Latinx students in STEM education

Over the past decade, the demand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics ( STEM) professionals has been on the rise. Companies have chosen to fill the demand by outsourcing and importing foreign workers through the H-1B1 non-immigration program which grants foreign nationals a visa to work in United States in specialty occupations including—but not limited to—engineering, biotechnology, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine, business, and health. While this is happening, our higher education system, especially in the STEM area, is declining in world rankings, with fewer students, especially African Americans a nd Hispanics, majoring in STEM fields (Sund, 2014). This is occurring despite the fact that the A merican population is becoming increasingly diverse (Shrestha & Heisler, 2011). This study examined African American and Hispanic students enrolled at De Anza College which is located in Cupertino, California, in particular those in the Math Performance Success (MPS) program. The study focused on students’ lack of interest in STEM fields, the motivation that led some to pursue STEM careers, and the barriers or obstacles that discouraged others from doing the same. The study included both male and female student populations in the fall 2015 Cohort following them through fall 2017. A mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) approach was used with African American and Latinx students utilizing the radical race theory methodology. A background survey was employed to collect data. The survey was sent to 4,747 Latinx and 634 African American students who were either current or graduate MPS students at the De Anza. C ollege. A total of 415 Latinx and 63 African American students responded. Out of those who responded, a total of 12 Latinx and 14 African American students were interviewed. The study identified several influencing factors that enabled African American and Latinx students to major in STEM and STEM-related fields, as well as several factors that represented barriers. Among these factors are family support, self-efficacy, parents’ educational level, and pre-college preparation. Overall, the impact of these barriers seemed to have greater effects on African American students. Several recommendations were presented which had implications for institutional hiring practices, cross-institutional collaboration, industry partnerships, teaching practices, and family engagement. The study also looked at the MPS program and identified the level of satisfaction and effectiveness in helping students overcome t heir math anxiety and in pursuing STEM and STEM-related careers.