By Dina Horwedel

Hispanic organizations are on a mission to get more students to pursue the sciences.

For the first time in the 30-year history of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, the organization is
focusing on the nurturing of scientific talent in preschoolers and very young children.

SACNAS, whose mission is to encourage Chicano/Latino and American Indian students to pursue graduate education and advanced degrees in the sciences, has long focused on K-12 teacher education to prepare students for science, technology, engineering and mathematics studies on the college level. Until now.

Until now, because the country’s growing Hispanic population has not translated into increasing numbers of Hispanic students entering or graduating with degrees in STEM disciplines. Organizations such as SACNAS and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities want to change that, recognizing that STEM fields hold the key to America’s future competitiveness.

According to a recent study, Black and Hispanic students are entering the STEM fields, but they aren’t earning enough credits to graduate in six years. The report, “Increasing the Success of Minority Students in Science and Technology,” examined six years worth of U.S. Department of Education data for 12,000 students who entered college in 1995. Black and Hispanic students were able to complete the STEM “weeding out” courses, says Dr. Eugene L. Anderson, associate director of the American Council on Education’s Center for Policy Analysis and co-author of the report. But after the third year, a significant percentage of those students had dropped out. Only 62.5 percent of Black and Hispanic STEM students completed their coursework, compared to 87 percent of White students and 95 percent of Asians.

Dr. Antonio Flores, HACU’s president and CEO, says his organization has conducted a number of pilot programs in middle and high schools to increase Latino enrollment in STEM fields. A five-year program, funded by NASA and held at 10 schools nationwide, offers “conclusive proof that with the right investment and the right tools, Hispanic kids are able to complete college preparatory high school programs as well as enroll in [STEM] fields at a higher rate,” he says.