Intellectual Merit: The American Psychological Association (APA) is launching an effort to contribute to the knowledge base on disabilities related differences in postsecondary STEM education for women. This includes the educational, social, and pre-professional experiences that influence student interest, academic performance, retention in STEM degree programs, STEM degree completion, and career choices. The "Women with Disabilities in STEM Education Research Agenda Development Project" (WWDSE) will create a research agenda that cultivates an emerging body of scholarly work on women with disabilities in STEM education that will lead to broadening the participation and achievement of women with disabilities in all fields of STEM education. APA is undertaking the following activities: 1) conducting a pre-workshop survey of NSF and Department of Education grantees with expertise in the areas of gender and disability, and 2) convening a workshop on supports and barriers facing women with disabilities in STEM education.
Broader Impacts: Although several empirical literatures within psychology address specific aspects of the issue, currently no one line of research specifically identifies or informs our understanding of the supports and barriers to positive educational outcomes for women with disabilities in STEM. This critical gap in knowledge effects efforts to maximize the human capital represented by women with disabilities in meeting national goals of increasing STEM professionals by 2020. APA will disseminate the resulting research agenda to encourage both junior and more seasoned investigators to design studies to answer the questions raised. In addition, the research agenda will serve as a potential guide to funders on ways to direct resources to support this research and begin to provide educators and administrators with the seeds of interventions to better support women with disabilities in STEM education. All deliverables will be made accessible to those with disabilities.
Shari E. Miles-Cohen, PhD Senior Director, Women’s Programs Office American Psychological Association The National Science Foundation Research in Disabilities Education program seeks to broaden the participation and achievement of people with disabilities in all fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and associated professional careers. The American Psychological Association Women with Disabilities in STEM Education Research Agenda Development Project (WWDSE) focused on a component of the NSF RDE agenda which is to contribute to the scientific "knowledge base by addressing disability related differences in secondary and postsecondary STEM learning and in the educational, social, and pre-professional experiences that influence student interest, academic performance, retention in STEM degree programs, STEM degree completion, and career choices. The American Psychological Association Women with Disabilities in STEM Education Research Agenda Development Project (WWDSE) endeavored to create a research agenda that will cultivate an emerging body of scholarly work on women with disabilities in STEM education that will lead to broadening the participation and achievement of women with disabilities in all fields of STEM education. WWDSE proposed to launch this effort to inform the development of this emerging body of scholarly work by conducting a pre-workshop assessment of NSF and Department of Education Disabilities Education grantees, and by convening an experts workshop on attitudinal supports and barriers facing women with disabilities in STEM education. WWDSE project staff continues to work to contribute to the scientific knowledge base by linking distinct, non-overlapping empirical literatures and by disseminating the research agenda to members of the scholarly community and to the general public through a variety of accessible media. The research agenda will assist stakeholders to 1) expand participation of WWDSE, 2) maximize successful achievement and outcomes for WWDSE, and 3) increase understanding of attitudinal, supports and barriers that impact women with disabilities in STEM education. The key research question is, "What issues in WWDSE are most in need of research"? The experts polled were recipients of grants from the National Science Foundation Research in Disabilities Education and Research on Gender in Science and Engineering programs and the U.S. Department of Education for STEM Education. From the initial survey results through the workshop roundtables, the attitudinal supports and barriers that the experts deemed most in need of research are those that related to the postsecondary university personnel, from faculty to administrators, with whom women with disabilities in STEM education interact. APA staff will continue to refine these research questions and submit results for publication. In addition, as part of the grant, APA contracted for digital recording of the two-day conference--all participants signed a video release form. The Women’s Programs Office has begun to mark the digital recording so that a "highlight reel" of the two-day workshop can be produced and used to further inform scholars and others about the attitudinal supports and barriers facing women with disabilities in STEM education.
