The Intensification of STEM-Related Inequalities in Global Context: The Buffalo Example

• In Event: STEM Policies and Pathways in Two Cities Differently Positioned in the Global Economy

Abstract

Drawing on the same theoretical framework, methods, data collection, and analysis procedures as the first presentation, this paper reports on opportunity structures in Buffalo. Consistent with the recent proliferation of STEM-focused policies and programs for STEM in high schools, the schools selected in both cities differ in approach to STEM (2 schools in each city have an explicit “STEM” focus; 2 do not), but both the opportunity structures and response to such structures in Buffalo differ from those in Denver. As in the first presentation, we detail STEM-related opportunities available through coursework, counseling, technology and extracurricular activities, drawing upon in-depth interviews with teachers, students, counselors and parents, and participant-observations.

At each school, focal students were selected from the population of non-privileged sophomore students in the top 20th percent of their class based on 9th grade GPA and state-standardized math and science achievement tests. In selecting schools and students with similar demographic characteristics, we can focus on the consequences of different regional and local opportunity structures for high-achieving urban minority students.

Evidence suggests that STEM opportunity structures within and between city, and response to such structures, differ in key ways. As per our research design, Denver and Buffalo differ substantially with regard to regional and historical economic context. Despite the recent downturn, Denver has had a growing economy for some time, including STEM-related job opportunities in several sectors. Unemployment is lower than in most US cites. In contrast, Buffalo is a rust belt city that has been unable to successfully replace the industrial base that marked its past, losing a high proportion of jobs that once enabled a stable working class and sense of future possibility among the poor. Unlike Denver, unemployment in Buffalo has risen sharply over two decades.

Through a careful comparison of data gathered in these two US cities with regard to location in the now-global structure of economic opportunities, we zero in on macro-level economic structure and the ways in which such structure currently plays out in cities differentially positioned in relation to the global knowledge economy, an economy that arguably intensifies inequalities both within and between nations. Specifically probing the linkages between macro level structural constraints and school policies and practices as related to the critical STEM arena, this paper presses toward deeper consideration of the linkages between social and economic context, and school policies and practices in global context. To date, there is little empirical research that assesses and theorizes regional and nationally based educational opportunity structures (in any curricular area) in light of new global circumstances. Taking this conversation into the highly critical STEM arena renders this topic even more important. This paper reports on STEM opportunities in a rust belt city, comparing and contrasting these data with those drawn from the more vibrant Denver context. We report data with an eye towards jump-starting an important conversation regarding new regional and national disparities inside a massively altered worldwide economic context.

Authors

• Lois Weis, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Amy Elizabeth Stich, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Kristin Cipollone, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Andrea Nikischer, University at Buffalo - SUNY