Getting Everyone to the Table: Cross-Sector Partnerships in a STEM Ecosystem

• In Event: 69.056 - Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: 69.056-2 - Laying the Groundwork for a STEM Ecosystem

Abstract

The formation of STEM ecosystems within a locality (state, region, city, community) has the potential to create collective impact across educational arenas. Through the cross-sector coordination and commitment of leaders around common goals and measurements, more can be accomplished together than by single organizations working in isolation. By “[focusing] on the relationships between organizations and the progress toward shared objectives” (Kania & Kramer, 2011, p. 39), collective impact initiatives go beyond simply increasing collaboration activities and the amount of partnerships. However, cross-sector coordination to effect social change is seldom tried (Kania & Kramer, 2011).

An initial finding from the analysis of critical ecosystem factors warranted a closer examination of local partners’ perception of the importance of cross-sector partnerships. This study addresses the following research question using 30 interviews with ecosystem partners: What cross-sector partnerships are viewed as important for carrying out the work of the local ecosystems?

Initial coding of critical ecosystem factors yielded 93 transcript excerpts that involved links between ecosystem partners from different sectors. Nineteen of these involved the link between in-school and out-of-school (OST) time partners (e.g. after-school and youth development programs). Since there is already a national focus on coordinating efforts between K-12 and OST (National Research Council, 2014; Traphagen & Traill, 2014), this study focused on additional types of cross-sector partnerships from the 74 remaining excerpts. In the secondary analysis of the excerpts, researchers employed the constant comparative method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) to generate and revise the codes.

Second round coding indicated that ecosystem partners perceived 9 types of partnerships as important for carrying out the work of the local ecosystems (see Figure 1). Also, some local partners discussed that all members from the partnerships are important to doing the work. A “General” code was applied to these partnerships.

In all, 26 partners perceived cross-sector partnerships as important for doing ecosystem work. The results reveal that 88% of partners think K-12 partnerships are important while 77% perceive business partnerships as necessary for moving their ecosystems’ work forward. In contrast, only 35% of partners believe partnerships with higher education institutions are needed and 27% identify informal education organizations as important. Fifty-four percent of partners emphasized the importance of all partners being involved in their ecosystems.

Nationally, there is a focus on increasing diversity (e.g. race, gender, income) in STEM fields and building the STEM workforce, which can potentially be achieved through the adoption of approaches such as collective impact (National Science Foundation, 2016). For example, The National Science Foundation (NSF), recent program solicitation, Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES), has the objective “to develop networks that involve representative organizations and consortia from different sectors that are committed to a common agenda to solve a specific STEM inclusion problem at scale” (NSF, 2016, p. 2). With the growing interest in tackling this pervasive social issue, research examining the development of collective impact initiatives, like STEM ecosystems, is likely to increase in importance in the years ahead.

Author

• Katherine Joy Nilsen, University of San Diego