Pixel International Conferences

Across STEM fields worldwide, many of our actions continue to “weed out” students from non-dominant communities and those who are differently abled. This issue should not be siloed to disability studies--it is one that must be recognized by all STEM educators. Students with disabilities account for about 12% of the student population in secondary school, but only 1% of the students in advanced placement courses. US high school students with disabilities acquire approximately the same number of credits in English as other students, but far fewer credits in math or science. This underrepresentation can feed a cycle of low expectations and underperformance, known as the expectancy effect, leading to lower test performance, less interest in pursuing studies in science and mathematics, and reduced effort to pursue counter-stereotypic skills, amongst other barriers. Most studies on expectancy effect focus on racial and ethnic minorities or women in STEM fields, but it has the same damaging effect on students with disabilities. Peña performed a thorough search of peer-reviewed articles published in four of the top academic journals. It was found that only 1% of published work in these journals had to do with disabilities; and, while published work on students with disabilities has decreased in the last two decades, admissions of students with disabilities have increased. Existing reports tend to count students with disabilities as one group, yet all educators must better understand the nature of students’ specific disabilities if they hope to close opportunity gaps. If students cannot access opportunities that feed into a STEM pipeline, they are essentially invisible. This session will shine some light on lack of literature surrounding specific disabilities in STEM fields, and engage session participants in discussion about potential future actions.

Keywords: STEM, underrepresentation, disability, invisibility

Newman, L., Wagner, M., Huang, T., Shaver, D., Knokey, A. M., Yu, J., ... & Cameto, R. (2011). Secondary School Programs and Performance of Students with Disabilities: A Special Topic Report of Findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2). NCSER 2012-3000. National Center for Special Education Research.

Office for Civil Rights. (2014). Data Snapshot: College and Career Readiness. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-college-and-career-readiness-snapshot.pdf">https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-college-and-career-readiness-snapshot.pdf

Peña, E. V. (2014). Marginalization of published scholarship on students with disabilities in higher education journals. Journal of College Student Development, 55(1), 30-40.

Scott, A., & Martin, A. (2014). Perceived barriers to higher education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 20(3).

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). 2003-04 and 2007-08 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study.

Vaccaro, A., Kimball, E. W., Wells, R. S., & Ostiguy, B. J. (2015). Researching students with disabilities: The importance of critical perspectives. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2014(163), 25-41.