To Pursue And Succeed In STEM, Students Need To Know They Belong

In the fall of 2021, 600 young people shared their unique experiences in science and math, technology and engineering while they were in pre-K through 12^th grades. What they told us took our breath away:

Others assumed I wasn’t any good.

I wasn’t taken seriously.

I was looked down on for my gender, the only person of color in the room.

I felt like an imposter.

I guess I’m just not a math person.

I won’t lie: Hearing these words from young people around the country was hard. The organization I lead, 100Kin10, had prioritized listening to people from communities most excluded from STEM opportunities in school and in the workplace: Black, Native American, and Latinx. We believed that if we understood the experiences at the margins of our education system, we could better inform changes that could uplift all students and schools. We expected to hear about curriculum, labs, extra-curricular activities, field trips, teachers, classes. And we did.

But in 94% of testimonials, young people talked about whether they felt they belonged in their STEM classes. That feeling of belonging was the most important predictor of whether they persevered in STEM.

When students felt like they belonged, they were much more likely to pursue and persist in STEM. In fact, this correlation was stronger than having positive feelings about STEM or having access to specific courses or experiences. They told us:

I felt welcomed and comfortable.

Someone cared about me.

Someone noticed and supported me.

My potential was recognized.

I found my place.

I belonged.

Do you know who shifted students toward belonging and STEM success?

Teachers.

In two out of every three testimonials where a young person moved toward belonging and persevering in STEM, it was a teacher who made that happen. The young people literally name them: Edgar told us how Mr. J used marionettes to explain addition and subtraction; Chuma shared how Ms. C took abstract AP chemistry concepts and applied them to real life; Payton told us that sharing a race with her 6^th-grade teacher, Dr. C, who was a black scientist like she aspired to be, changed her life; and Angelisa told us how Mr. K’s notoriously high expectations galvanized their success in geometry and beyond.

Here is one story, from Ephraim, an 18-year old from Texas, one story that shows us what is possible for any of our children:

In fifth grade, I took the Texas STAAR state exam. I did pretty bad on it and I got the

lowest grade in my class. And my teacher told me I wasn’t gonna be anything in life because I got a very low grade… The days after that, I remember thinking I couldn’t do anything with math, that I was terrible at it…But then…[my mom] transferred me to a new class, to a new teacher. And then this teacher was an artist. I will never forget her because she had a strong impact on my life. What set her apart is when she like taught… she would go around to us individually and made sure we are understanding the problems while she was teaching us because in fifth grade, kids don’t want to raise their hand ask questions because they’re scared or don’t think it’s cool… Also, she would make it relatable in life….And that’s when it changed for me… I hated math with my old teacher, the one that told me, I wasn’t gonna be anything… Now I’m studying data sciences, mathematics, and computer science… I’m the only African American person in my class. I want to inspire other African Americans because…I was able to do [this].”

Some people might tell you that STEM identity is fixed, that math skills, especially, are innate, that you can predict by 3^rd grade how someone will perform in math for the rest of their life. But Ephraim and his teacher disprove it all. In fact, nearly 50% of storytellers who believed that they didn’t belong in STEM told us about an experience that shifted them to feel like they belonged and led them to persevere and then succeed in STEM – and more than anyone or anything else, it was a teacher who made that happen.

Our examination of available data on the STEM teacher shortage reveals that the shortage persists and that turnover is occurring at a rapid rate – two trends that precede the pandemic and are being exacerbated in its wake. Each year, about 60,000 STEM teachers—or nearly 8%—leave American classroom. In comparison, countries without a STEM teacher shortage lose only about 3% of their STEM teachers each year, which would translate to about 25,000 in the American context.

It is exceedingly rare for children who don’t have a strong STEM foundation in preK-12^th grades to go on to earn STEM degrees. With an economy that is dependent on STEM skills, and STEM jobs consistently out-earning non-STEM jobs, there is no path to a globally competitive, equitable economy that doesn’t go through STEM. And, as Ephraim and hundreds of other young people make clear, there is no path to STEM that doesn’t go through teachers in whose classrooms their students believe that they belong and can succeed in STEM.