Michigan State University Assistant Professor Stefanie L. Marshall was one of 16 practitioners and scholars who contributed to the “Equity in K-12 STEM Education: Framing Decisions for the Future” national consensus report.
The framework, released in July by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), equips teachers and school/district leaders with recommendations to increase equity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
A core tenet of the framework is inclusion.
“This framework speaks to everyone,” said Marshall, who joined the MSU College of Education’s Department of Teacher Education in 2023. “Everyone — state, district and school leaders and teachers — makes decisions related to equity. Those decisions often impact someone else. But it is in those decisions that we can open opportunities.”
About the framework
The framework was written with five lenses, or frames, to guide decision-making about goals, strategies, policies and practices:
- Reducing gaps between groups
- Expanding opportunity and access
- Embracing heterogeneity in STEM classrooms
- Learning and using STEM to promote justice
- Envisioning sustainable futures through STEM
Marshall also points out that, while forward thinking is crucial, it is imperative to understand why STEM education is inequitable in the first place.
“It has been said that we need more diversity in STEM, but we often don’t recognize the historical causes, and we’re not disrupting those systems,” she said. “Learning how we got here is essential to engaging what is possible.”
Marshall and fellow scholars who were part of the Committee on Equity in PreK-12 STEM Education conducted site visits to learn from schools and systems about real-world experiences. Throughout her roughly two and a half years on the committee, Marshall attended regional visits in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Maryland and Maine.
Marshall said the regional expert consultations laid the groundwork for better understanding the systemic challenges as well as what is already happening in (and out) of schools for STEM education and helped illuminate what STEM learning could and should be.
Importantly, Marshall said, STEM education must be “grounded in communities and the humanity of children.”
The Equity in PreK-12 STEM Education: Framing Decisions for the Future report is available on the NASEM website for PDF download or for purchase as a paperback.