Weaving Students into Engineering Versus Weeding Them Out: A Framework for Institutions

Abstract Historically, engineering programs have weeded out all but the perceived brightest and best, believing that many students who wanted to major in engineering did not have what it takes. While engineering programs have broadened their view of which students have potential, and dropped some overt weed-out practices, today many structures, policies, mindsets, and approaches in engineering education still echo the weed-out philosophy. As a result, our institutions largely focus on admitting and educating students who have enjoyed the most pre-college opportunities, not those with the most ability. Because of systemic issues, including bias, stereotypes, and related inequities, historically underrepresented students often lack pre-college opportunity and preparation. A series of brainstorming sessions in Spring 2022 identified three focus areas for this effort: admissions practices, onboarding of students, and student skills development. ASEE and the National Academy of Engineering secured an NSF-funded BPE grant which has developed a draft framework and related evidence-based practices in the areas of recruiting, admissions, student onboarding, student skills development, curricular approaches, and policies/procedures. ERVA (Engineering Research Visioning Alliance) co-hosted a listening session to collect student voices which has further informed this work, along with a second set of virtual focus group sessions in spring of 2023 to collect additional input and feedback. This presentation will examine the framework and supporting documents, as well as consider the type of cultural changes which will be necessary to engage institutions in adopting the framework and adapting/implementing evidence-based practices in these focus areas.