Institute for Student Learning Assessment

An analysis of the contributions of the National Science Foundation's Research in Disabilities Education (in STEM) program to the education of students with disabilities in STEM post-secondary programs

In 1990, the National Task Force on Women, Minorities and the Handicapped in Science and Technology reported that the number of individuals with disabilities was seriously underrepresented in science and technology careers in the country. The National Task Force recommended that the U.S. Government establish and operate targeted programs to recruit, train, and retain people with disabilities for careers in these disciplines. This task force report included a series of recommendations to the NSF Director of the National Science Foundation related to how the NSF could increase participation of people with disabilities in the nation’s science and engineering enterprise. NSF’s programmatic response to promoting individuals with disabilities in STEM education and careers became the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE). The Research in Disabilities Education Synthesis Project (RDE-SP) at Kansas State University was a three-year syntheses research project to investigate and synthesize the contributions and accomplishments of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program. The research questions of the project were related to postsecondary STEM education and students with disabilities. To answer these questions, the researchers examined a variety of information from the projects funded during the decade in question. Data sources included materials submitted by project PIs such as annual reports and evaluation reports, publications by PIs and Co-PIs, materials on the DO-IT/RDE site funded by RDE for dissemination of information about RDE projects, and qualitative and quantitative survey data. These data were synthesized and augmented by current literature in the field to answer the research questions. This poster will describe the study methodology and findings related to one of the research questions: What are common challenges faced by projects aiming to increase the participation of students with disabilities in STEM education at the postsecondary level? And what suggestions for solutions have come from RDE projects?