2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Hispanics are consistently underrepresented in U.S. STEM employment. One possible explanation for this disparity could be that Hispanics are less likely to have a science or engineering background that would facilitate their STEM employment. According to the recent Texas Academic Performance Report, more than 75% of total students in South Texas are Hispanics, which is much higher than the state percentage of around 53%. While the majority of the students in this region and Texas are Hispanics, their academic achievements in STEM disciplines are much lower than those of the other groups. This disparity may be due to the lack of involvement of primary language and culture in education settings, which is increasingly recognized as important to engage students from diverse backgrounds effectively. When educators are from similar social and cultural backgrounds, they are more equipped to support students’ academic success. Through support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Texas A&M University-Kingsville offers summer research programs to K-12 teachers in a group setting to promote STEM in the region, and to create a dynamic multidisciplinary environment and a Community of Practice where K-12 teachers, teacher educators, researchers, industry professionals, and graduate students share a common goal of expanding and sharing knowledge to promote STEM education in South Texas. The goal of the program is to equip educators with similar social and cultural backgrounds with STEM content and curriculum implementation skills to promote student success in regional STEM classrooms. In this paper, the authors share details of the program design, summaries of projects included, and outcomes of analysis of feedback from a total of 31 teacher participants. Pre- and post-surveys have been conducted along with a follow-up phone interview to collect feedback from the teachers. Performance and feedback between the two groups of teachers (6-week and two-and-a-half-week) are compared and analyzed. In addition, the perception of school administrators, such as principals and superintendents, is discussed along with the experience and lessons learned in teacher recruitment, communication, and program implementation.