Only 12 percent of all American students and 6 percent of minority students graduate from high school with the four-year sequence of math and science courses to be eligible for science or math based majors in college. Without such course preparation these students cannot succeed in college or compete for entry-level jobs in an economy fueled by technology. Many of these students become discouraged before entering the seventh and eighth grades and opt out of math and science courses at the first opportunity.

Almost all of the Fortune 1000 (Science, Engineering, Technology and Math) STEM executives are concerned that the U.S. is in danger of losing our global leadership position in science and technology due to a shortage of STEM talent, with more than half reporting their companies are already experiencing such a shortage. Diversifying the STEM talent pool is an essential solution to this problem, Fortune executives say. Almost nine-in-10 agree that bringing more women and minorities into STEM fields will help solve this issue.

American prosperity is driven by the nation’s science, engineering and technology enterprise. However, across the nation the percent of many states’s spending on science and technology does not meet the expectations for sustained economic growth. If the situation is to improve America will need to increase investment in science and technology and to reinforce technical literacy and competency of groups that make up the bulk of our emerging workforce. Demographics and the aging workforce indicate that groups historically underrepresented in science and engineering professions represent an untapped near term pool and a tremendous underutilized national resource in the long term. Our principals have a combined record of 58 years of comprehensive growth oriented achievement in post-secondary academic program design, administration, and evaluation. Our field of specialization is to develop strategies to increase the number of underrepresented students majoring in science and engineering programs beginning with middle school education through graduate level program interventions and evaluation.

The signposts of our record in education include:

• Development and operation of secondary & college level engineering and science programs for underrepresented ethnic groups.
• Evaluation of statewide, regional, and national mathematics, engineering and science education programs, and
• Facilitation of local industry/school system collaborations designed to provide teacher training, expanded corporate support, diversity, and academic achievement.

DEBLAR’s broad experiential base in education planning and evaluation can assist regional education consortia, school districts, and colleges promote access and diversity in science and engineering education and workforce training. We are listed as a certified "Technical Assistance Provider" with the National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education.

Importance for Diversity in our S/E workforce

“There is growing consensus among the nation’s business, government and higher education leaders that unless schools do more to train and nurture a whole new generation of young Americans with strong skills in math, science and technology, U.S. leadership in the world economy is at risk.” Ruth A. Wooden, President, Public Agenda, January 2008

Our children continue to fall behind in the essential subjects of math and science, putting our national security and competitiveness in the global economy at risk.

Here are just a few examples among many.

§  U.S. students recently finished 15th in reading, 25th in math, and 17th in science in the ranking of 31 countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

§  Only 29 percent of American fourth grade students, a third of eighth grade students, and barely 18 percent of 12th grade students perform at or above the proficient level in science

§  The 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that only 32% of all eighth-graders were proficient in math while a mere 29% were proficient in reading.

Deblar Project References:

• SWOOPE, DOE Sandia Lab – Conducted review of minority science/engineering college grants program in environmental sciences
• Glenn Research Center, NASA - Responsible for the first comprehensive review of the Center's minority engineering and science grant program
• MMST, University of Akron – Helped initiate outreach strategies with area high schools to increase numbers of underrepresented students entering the College of Engineering
• Mass Prep, Boston Public Schools - Directed the statewide mathematics and science initiative for secondary schools