Showcase

Minority Student Pipeline MSP Project Outcomes Report

Description

Through professional development opportunities for teachers, teaching experiences for undergraduates, and challenging course work for high-school students within Prince Georges county, (MSP) has helped to prepare and retain minority students in STEM professions.

Programs: (MSP) comprised four different strands of activity for different groups of participants:
1. Elementary and middle-school teachers: science faculty at UMCP and PGCC developed and provided two different types of professional development programs for teachers, designed around principles of teaching and learning through inquiry science. These teachers impact thousands of students each year.
2. High-school science teachers engaged in summer research experiences over five years with UMCP, UMBI and BSU faculty. Staff at UMBI and Towson University established learning communities for participating teachers to learn more about the nature of science, build on their research experiences, and connect them with the thousands of students in their classrooms.
3. High-school students were given opportunities to take challenging science courses for college credit through a pair of innovative dual-enrollment programs developed collaboratively by PGCPS, BSU, and PGCC.
4. Undergraduate students: Science majors were given unique opportunities to learn about teaching through formal training and guided experiences in teaching in reformed college science courses at UMCP.

Outcomes: Through these programs, the (MSP) partnership successfully:
Raised student achievement in science. Scores on the science portion of the Maryland State Assessments increased twice as much in schools with participating teachers.
Stopped the decline in student interest through the elementary years. Students of participating teachers were more interested in science than their peers after instruction.
Prepared students for college STEM. Many students entered STEM programs in college and 80% of them are still there today.