Targeting the Achievement Gap: Strategies Toward Removing Inequities in Undergraduate Immunology Education.

Angelica M Riestra,Frances Mercer,Abigail J Morales

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2019.02906

Abstract

A diverse student body enriches the classroom with lived experiences, varied skillsets, community and cultural knowledge, resiliency, and altruistic interests, all critical attributes that benefit both the classroom and the STEM field at large. However, a persistent disparity in academic and educational attainment exists between under-represented minority (URM) and non-URM students in STEM fields. This achievement gap discourages talented URM students from entering STEM professions, threatening the potential, expertise, and perspective of these professions. Here we describe the factors that contribute to the achievement gap and present strategies, utilized in our Immunology classrooms, for combating each factor. We discuss project-based learning pedagogy to give students increased agency and feelings of empowerment. We also highlight concrete practices to foster students' science identities and sense of community, factors that highly promote STEM retention. The dynamic subject of Immunology provides myriad opportunities to implement a curriculum committed to equity, as we outline below.

Highlights

Lack of access to and discrimination in higher education has nurtured unacceptable achievement gaps between under-represented minorities (URM) and non-URM white and Asian students across STEM fields, threatening the expertise, breadth, and perspective of future STEM professions, and limiting social mobility for URMs interested in STEM [1, 2]
A variety of factors contribute to the achievement gap, including stereotype threat, missed opportunities to affirm diverse values, lack of community, and a too-rigid roadmap to success
We describe practices that we have successfully utilized to break down barriers to equitable achievement in our Immunology classrooms at public Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in New York City and Southern California

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Lack of access to and discrimination in higher education has nurtured unacceptable achievement gaps between under-represented minorities (URM) and non-URM white and Asian students across STEM fields, threatening the expertise, breadth, and perspective of future STEM professions, and limiting social mobility for URMs interested in STEM [1, 2]. A URM identity often intersects with First-Generation (FG) college-student status and low-income status, two other factors that can threaten student retention in higher education [3]. A variety of factors contribute to the achievement gap, including stereotype threat, missed opportunities to affirm diverse values, lack of community, and a too-rigid roadmap to success. We describe practices that we have successfully utilized to break down barriers to equitable achievement in our Immunology classrooms at public Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in New York City and Southern California

STEREOTYPE THREAT

CLEAR AND EQUITABLE PATHS TO ACHIEVEMENT

DISCUSSION