1. Females in STEM and PLTW
Discussion February 3, 2010
Barbara Bitters and WI PLTW Board

2. True Outcomes Assessment Report PLTW-2008
Female students are severely under-represented in PLTW programs. They constitute only about 17% of PLTW students.
PLTW is no better or worse than colleges at attracting female students to engineering and technology.
Proportional representation of under-represented groups is core to PLTW’s mission.

3. Gender has no effect on student performance.
We conducted a multivariate analysis examining student performance as a function of gender, race/ethnic group, the affluence of the school, the type of exam (A&B or A&C), and the course (IED, POE, DE, CEA & CIM).
Gender has no effect on student performance.
Race/ethnicity has the greatest effect: Black students score 12 points lower than White students; Hispanic and Native American students score 5 points below White students.
Students in affluent schools do better than those in poorer schools.

4. True Outcomes Assessment Report PLTW-2008
Most schools need to add female students to achieve proportional representation in their PLTW programs, and many schools need to add more than 30.
Plots of under-representation vs. the size of PLTW programs or the size of schools shows no correlation.

5. True Outcomes Assessment Report PLTW-2008
No strategies or suggestions about what to do are made in this report.
What are we doing or do we want to do in Wisconsin.

6. History of Gender Equity Efforts in Technology Education via DPI
International Technology Education Association Guidelines for Equity Issues in Technology Education, 1985
UW Stout Project to create a handbook, 1988
Wisconsin Model for Sex Equity, 1988
Sex Equity Resources p in Tech Ed Curriculum Guide, 1988
TACKLE Box,
STEM Equity Pipeline Project,

7. WI Tech Ed 9-12 Enrollments Over My Career
% male 3% female
% male 6% female
% male 7% female
% male 17% female

8. Wisconsin PLTW Enrollment Data for 2009
High School 18% female and 82% male.
Middle School 45% female and 55% male.
IED 18% female and 82% male
POE 20% female and 80% male
DE 14% female and 86% male
CEA 14% female and 86% male
CIM 12% female and 88% male
AERO 47% female and 53% male
EDD 9% female and 91% male

9. Ideas ?