Building Family Partnerships Toward Equitable Community Engagement and Integration in STEM Education

Authors

Juan Salinas, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Sheila Cardenas-Vazquez, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Sherlyn De Alva, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Elizabeth Salinas, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Griselda Salinas, AVE Frontera
Virginia Santanas, AVE Frontera

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-22-2025

Abstract

In their quest to further their understanding of the power of plática (authentic dialogue) in community engagement efforts, the researchers/practitioners embedded themselves in deep, critical conversations with family leaders from a community-based organization on issues of equity and excellence in education. A family-centered theory of change developed by trusting relationships and partnerships with students, their families, and educators, was incorporated in the professional development of STEM faculty, revision of STEM curricula, and the transformation of teaching practices. This study advances the body of knowledge on the operationalization of servingness and provides insight on the utilization of sense of belonging metrics to assess the impact of equitable, community engagement efforts.

Two-way ANOVA on baseline data (N=779) showed that female undergraduate students have a statistically significant (α=0.05) higher sense of belonging than males throughout their first three years of college. Using a mixed-methods research design, the researchers/practitioners took a critical ethnographic approach to assess the impact of their community engagement efforts. Through critical reflection and reflexivity, the researchers used sense of belonging and student success metrics to assess the impact of the internal processes and methods of a family-centered theory of change which led to equitable outcomes among participants.

Comments

Copyright (c) 2025 Juan Salinas, Sheila Cardenas Vazquez, Sherlyn De Alva, Elizabeth Salinas, Griselda Salinas, Virginia Santana

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Salinas, J., Vazquez, S. C., De Alva, S., Salinas, E., Salinas, G., & Santana, V. (2025). Building Family Partnerships Toward Equitable Community Engagement and Integration in STEM Education. Metropolitan Universities, 36(2), 127-154. https://doi.org/10.18060/28682

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

First Page

127

Last Page

154

Publication Title

Metropolitan Universities