Reflections on Practice: Inclusive STEM Education through Student-Faculty-Staff Learning Communities

Abstract

Introductory STEM courses often produce persistent gaps in student outcomes, particularly for students from marginalized backgrounds. This article describes the STEM Equity Learning Community (SELC) Project, a year-long professional development experience that brought together instructors, students, institutional researchers, and staff to examine equity in STEM courses. Using disaggregated course-level data—including the Systemic Advantage Index and grade anomaly reports—teams identified long-standing patterns of inequity and explored how structural factors, rather than student deficits, shape academic outcomes. The STEM Equity Learning Community (SELC) Project created a supportive environment for instructors to reflect on their practices, confront deficit-based assumptions, and collaborate across roles to develop equity-minded teaching strategies. By connecting data analysis with facilitated reflection, participants built a shared sense of responsibility for change and a deeper understanding of how systemic barriers impact student success. As institutions work to address equity gaps in STEM, the [STEM Equity Learning Community (SELC) Project represents a promising, scalable model for supporting inclusive teaching through sustained, cross-role collaboration.