Engineering Careers Case Study: K–12 Recruitment Initiative

The first and most difficult task was determining the organizational structure of the project. Locating and recruiting appropriate personnel at all levels of the vertical slice to work on the project required approximately 1 year. Having personnel that would have a positive impact was the key to the initial success of the project. At a minimum, two to three people were required at each educational level since there was a high level of turnover among the project participants. Whenever key individuals left the project, the progress of the project at their level slowed down until new individuals were recruited from their district. Recruiting additional personnel to work on the project was difficult given the limited resources available in the districts that participated in the partnership.

The partnership included faculty members from the COE at SJSU, a steering committee from the two high schools in the East Side Union High School District in San Jose (James Lick and Yerba Buena), personnel from two middle schools (Joseph George and Pala), and teachers from six elementary schools in the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District. Because the K–8 schools and high schools were in different districts, the type of coordination that was used for this project was essential for the integration of initiatives between the two districts.

At the high school level, a steering committee was formed that included a district representative, the principals of the two high schools, one counselor, and three teachers from the high school math and science programs. For the elementary school district, the project members were the district science resource coordinator, a middle school principal, a middle school science teacher, and an elementary school teacher.

The original project director for the HP Foundation was elected mayor of San Jose during the second year of the project, and he was replaced with a new director. In addition to funding the project and providing the project director, the HP Foundation also provided a full-time representative who worked with the K–8 school district and a scholarship coordinator who worked with the university to provide scholarships to high school students entering college.

At the college level, the project director from the university was in charge of coordinating several aspects of the project, including ensuring female and minority engineering student recruitment, providing a tracking system for female and minority students, coordinating the ENGR 157 Community Concepts course (discussed in the Implementation of the Project Tasks section), working with personnel from the K–12 partnership schools, and maintaining a center for assisting students and providing support services. The project director also interfaced with members of other campuses and community organizations that provided assistance to students.

The principal investigator (the author) and the university project director worked closely with the schools in the K–12 partnership and helped coordinate their educational reform initiatives. They participated in many of the K–12 activities, including helping with the hands-on, inquiry-based science teacher training; developing and implementing the scholarship program; managing the summer internship program; and coordinating meetings between the middle schools and high schools.

During the term of the project, the Student Recruitment Committee that included faculty member representatives from each of the engineering disciplines in the COE at SJSU developed and implemented an Engineering Outreach Day. Each fall, 150 members of the engineering faculty, students, and alumni, in teams of two or three, provided presentations on “What Is Engineering?” to students at more than 50 schools, most of which were high schools (there were also a few community colleges and middle schools). The presentations were given on one day designated as Engineering Outreach Day, and all of the COE faculty members and students were released from their classes to participate in the presentations. The engineering faculty members were the team leaders, and they were provided with a slide show and a script that described the different engineering disciplines, along with a videotape called Fuel Your Brain that described the engineering program at SJSU, discussed the benefits of obtaining engineering degrees, and provided information on the college and the surrounding community. The slide show and the videotape were designed by the COE Student Recruitment Committee, which was composed of faculty members from each of the departments in the College of Engineering. The videotape was funded and produced for the COE by a local firm. Two staff members provided by the COE dean were responsible for contacting all of the high schools to determine whether they wanted to participate in the Engineering Outreach Day, and they also coordinated the logistics required for the presentations at each of the high schools.

At each event, one or two students on each team provided 5- to 10-minute presentations on why they chose to study engineering and their experience as a student in the engineering program. At the conclusion of the presentations, the high schools’ counselors or a teacher filled out an evaluation form on the effectiveness of the presentations and returned it to the COE. The presentation team members also filled out a survey that was used to track the number of students who attended the presentations and the opinions of the team members on how well the presentation was received by the high school students.

The COE implemented a new course called ENGR 157 Community Concepts that met the requirements for being an upper-division general education elective for college-level engineering students. The students in ENGR 157 received training by a faculty member on performing outreach, and then they were assigned to work at one of the two partnership high schools as mentors, role models, or tutors. The university engineering students assisted the high school students with their senior projects, helped in computer laboratories, tutored mathematics students, assisted in science laboratories, helped with student clubs, and were available to assist with other activities.

In addition to their volunteer experience, the college-level engineering students met once a week with a faculty member to discuss their experiences, any difficulties they were encountering, their multicultural experiences, and other related issues they experienced while assisting at the high schools. In addition to providing benefits to the high school students and teachers, the Community Concepts course increased the awareness of the college students of their civic responsibility and work with diverse cultures.

Another part of the project included a summer internship program that provided high school students with the opportunity to participate in a COE research project at SJSU during the summer prior to their last year of high school. College of Engineering faculty members mentored students who worked on their research projects for 8 weeks during the summer. Student internship stipends were provided by the National Science Foundation, and the dean of the COE provided faculty member stipends.

The high school interns were required to attend weekly workshops conducted by a faculty member from each of the engineering departments that introduced them to the different engineering disciplines. The interns were also required to write a research report at the end of their internship about their research project and to provide presentations to faculty members and the other interns in the program. The internship program supported 30 interns each summer.

The university project team members assisted the other partnership members in the K–8 schools in introducing hands-on, inquiry-based science into their curriculums. This was accomplished by using the HP Foundation funding to purchase hands-on science kits and by training teachers on how to teach hands-on science. A summer science institute was conducted during the first summer of the project at the K–5 level in which 12 teachers from six elementary schools were trained for 2 weeks and then taught a 5-week science session for students.

During the subsequent four summers, the teachers trained the previous summer helped train new teachers, who in turn taught the next summer science session. When the project commenced, fewer than 10% of the K–5 teachers at the partnership schools were teaching hands-on science projects in their classrooms.

The university partners worked with members of the MASTEP program, which is part of the College of Education at SJSU, to implement educational reforms into math courses at the two high schools. Coordination was also provided to bring together math teachers from the feeder middle schools with the high school math teachers to implement similar mathematics educational strategies.

The project team members at the university also explored the possibility of a joint credential program for engineering students to be granted a teaching credential in mathematics along with their engineering degree. In order to obtain the joint credential, engineering students were required to complete additional courses in the education department. One alternative that was implemented was for engineering students at SJSU to take only one additional math course, beyond the math courses required for their engineering degree program, to obtain a math minor.

In addition to the funding allocated for this project, the Hewlett Packard Foundation provided 40 four-year scholarships that covered tuition for 10 minority and female students per year for 4 years. The HP Foundation scholarship recipients were also eligible for summer internships at HP sites throughout the United States while they were attending college. Eligibility for these internships was based on the students being enrolled in a 4-year college and majoring in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or mechanical engineering. The principal investigator was responsible for developing the guidelines for the scholarships, soliciting applications, evaluating the applications, and providing recommendations on who should be awarded the scholarships to the HP Foundation.

In order to initiate the tasks for this project, a steering committee was formed that included representatives from the HP Foundation, faculty members from the COE at SJSU, and personnel from each of the partner high schools and the elementary school district. In addition to providing funding for the project, the HP Foundation also demonstrated their active commitment to the project by assigning several people to work full-time on the project. One of the HP representatives worked with the K–8 partners, one was in charge of the HP scholarship program, and one was the project director.

The steering committee met quarterly to discuss the progress of the project and to assign action items for the next quarter. Other meetings were held throughout the year with the university representatives and the teachers at each level of the partnership involved with implementing the initiatives.

During the Engineering Outreach Day presentations, the high school students and their teachers were invited to an Engineering Open House at the COE at SJSU that was held approximately one week after the Engineering Outreach Day. Attendance at the yearly Engineering Open House increased dramatically. Prior to the presentations, about 700 high school and community college students attended the Engineering Open House. Once the high school presentations were implemented, more than 1,000 high school and community college students participated in the Open House activities, which included laboratory tours, demonstrations, a women in engineering panel discussion, a Jeopardy competition, and a barbecue. A college counselor day was also held each year at the COE at SJSU during which high school counselors met with the deans and the chairs of departments to discuss issues of mutual concern.

During the first year of the project, members of the K–5 level partnership concentrated on obtaining hands-on science kits. A committee that included the district science resource coordinator, a middle school science teacher, an elementary science teacher, and a university representative was formed to acquire appropriate science kits. This committee met every Monday to discuss how the kits would be integrated into the curriculum and to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of the different kits available. Several different types of hands-on science kits were tested in classrooms to determine their viability for use in the district.

During the second year, a new committee was formed to analyze science kits for use in the middle schools. This committee included the members of the original committee with three new members added as representatives from three of the middle schools in the district.

During the summers, 12 elementary teachers were provided 20 hours of training on how to teach hands-on, inquiry-based science and then taught the summer science program to elementary students. The elementary district received a Voluntary Integration Program (VIP) grant from the government for a center to refurbish the hands-on science kits being used in the district and to pay for the summer school science training program.

As part of this initiative, field trips were arranged for students and their parents to visit the Silicon Valley Museum of Science and Technology. This museum provides hands-on, inquiry-based science and technology displays and activities. Funds were donated from industry members to pay for the buses that were used to transport the students and their parents to the museum and to pay their admission fees. One result of involving the parents in this initiative, and some of the other project initiatives, was that several of the mothers of the K–5 students involved in the project were inspired to obtain their GED, and they then applied to college to obtain a degree in elementary education.

The elementary district used some of the HP Foundation funds for staff development and to provide release time to send teachers to specialized professional development workshops.

Baseline data on math and science test scores were collected during the first year of the project from the K–8 and high school districts for the six elementary schools, two middle schools, and the two high schools. Because science testing was not being done at the elementary level, some of the project funding was used to pay for testing fifth grade students.

The baseline data obtained for Algebra I pass rates were compared with the test scores at the end of the project to determine whether the project had a positive impact on the students participating in the project and whether their test scores improved with the implementation of the project initiatives. At the two high schools participating in the project, the baseline pass rates for Algebra I were less than 40%. At the two middle schools, only 7% and 12% of the students scored above average on the statewide mathematics test.

Data were also obtained from the two high schools on the number of students applying to engineering college programs prior to this project. These data were compared with the number of students who applied to engineering programs during the term of the project to determine if the project had any effect on students choosing engineering as a career option.

In order to determine the effectiveness of some of the initiatives, a survey was conducted to obtain data from COE freshman students. Students in the ENGR 10 course, which is the first course that engineering students take at SJSU, were surveyed to determine why they chose engineering and why they decided to attend SJSU. The results obtained from the freshman survey indicated the following:

The results from this part of the survey indicated that the project initiatives developed as part of the outreach program could have an impact on students selecting engineering as a career objective because the project provided exposure to engineering projects and helped educate high school teachers and counselors on engineering opportunities.

Another part of the survey inquired as to how students had learned about the engineering program at SJSU. High school teachers and counselors were responsible for 40% of the incoming freshman knowing about the College of Engineering, 24% of the students had attended an Engineering College Open House, 7% learned about the program from SJSU representatives, and the other 17% learned about the program from SJSU alumni and the remainder of the students did not provide a response to this question. This second part of the survey indicated that having COE faculty members, students, and alumni provide presentations on “What Is Engineering?” to high school students and teachers helped students learn about the program at SJSU.

As mentioned previously, the College of Engineering experienced increases in enrollments of 10.9%, 11.8%, 17.9%, and 8.0% during each year of the project. Also during this period, the COE female undergraduate student enrollments increased from 320 (6.4%) to 505 (10.1%). One important factor in these enrollment increases was the effort made by engineering faculty members and students to provide presentations on engineering during the Engineering Outreach Day. Three other factors were the summer research internships and the scholarship program because both of these initiatives included minority and female students and the hiring of a dedicated diversity director for the COE.

One example of the individual success of the extended outreach effort to high school students is the following. The principal investigator worked closely with math and science teachers at James Lick High School and arranged to provide nine presentations to students during 1 year as a pilot program to determine whether providing more than one presentation per year would have a greater impact on the high school students selecting engineering as a career. Prior to this effort, there had only been one or two students per year from James Lick High School who applied to the COE at SJSU or other engineering programs. After the principal investigator provided the presentations, 40 students from James Lick High School applied and were accepted into the COE.

In the K–8 partnership district, 48 teachers were trained in how to effectively teach hands-on, inquiry-based science, and 25 teachers received math training. Efforts were also concentrated on assisting high school teachers with math and science curriculum revisions and establishing a collaborative effort between the middle schools and the high schools to develop compatible educational strategies in mathematics. Both of these efforts helped the middle school students transition more effectively into high school math courses. The scores on the fifth grade science competency examination increased during each year of the project.

The new course, ENGR 157 Community Concepts, had an enrollment its first year of 32 engineering students, and 95 students were enrolled in the second year. Some of the ENGR 157 students assisted with high school senior projects during the fall semester, and many of the engineering college students who were enrolled in ENGR 157 in the fall semester continued to help the high school students with their senior projects during the spring semester. They returned at the end of the year to attend the senior project presentations. Another cohort of COE students enrolled in ENGR 157 tutored high school students in Algebra I.

Another successful part of the project was the math curriculum modifications introduced at the high school level that created 6-week learning modules. At the end of each of the Algebra I 6-week modules, the high school students were tested. Students who did not pass the test were still able to continue on to the next module while being tutored on the material from the previous module by engineering students in the ENGR 157 course. When the high school students felt ready, they were again tested on the material from the previous module. This process allowed students to continue on with math rather then ending their math education without passing Algebra I, which is required for entrance into college. The results obtained from implementing the new Algebra I math modules were impressive. The pass rates for Algebra I were 38% and 40% per year at the two high schools before the university engineering students provided tutoring, and it increased to over 65% per year during the time that the tutoring was available to the high school students. Many of the students also took higher-level math courses while they were still in high school after passing Algebra I.

One measure of the success of the Engineering Outreach Day, along with the other initiatives undertaken as part of this project, was evident at the end of the first year of the project, when enrollments in the COE increased by 10.9%, and by increases of 11.8%, 17.9% and 8.0% in subsequent years. There was a substantial decline in enrollment when the project initiatives were no longer being implemented by the COE.

Each partnership was required to submit program goals and an evaluation plan to the HP Foundation at the beginning of each year. At the end of each year, each partnership submitted a project summary report that presented quantifiable data on the success of the project. The yearly reports provided information on how many teachers at the K–8 level were trained to teach hands-on, inquiry-based science during the year; how many students were being taught hands-on science; and how many students were prepared in math and science at the high school level. The yearly reports also provided data on how many students were enrolled in the different departments in the COE, how many female and underrepresented minorities were enrolled in the college of engineering, and how many had graduated that year.

The partnership members were also required to report on the status of the five major activities proposed at the beginning of each year. The project also tracked the number of partnership meetings held and the number of community outreach activities and provided information on any additional funding acquired during each year. The yearly reports were used to determine the success of the project in relation to the project goals that were part of the original project proposal. Due to their excessive length, the yearly reports and the detailed results obtained during the 5 years of this project are not included in this article.

Another measure of the success of the project occurred when the HP Foundation project received the Ron Brown Industry/Education Collaboration Award from the president of the United States, which was awarded at the White House. Ron Brown was Secretary of Commerce when he was killed in an airplane crash in 1996, and the award was established in his honor to recognize outstanding industry/educational collaborations.