Chapter 22: Making a Case for Education Evaluation with a Diversity Lens

The economic and technological growth of the U.S. in response to the rapidly changing global economy presents significant challenges for industry to seek out skilled and diverse workers for the 21st century competitive workforce. The increasing knowledge based economy requires a diversified workforce with highly technical educational skills, specifically in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in order to adequately meet the needs of industry and remain competitive in the global economy. More specifically, the education and training that engineers receive at selective institutions in the U.S. satisfies a critical source of the skilled and technical labor force needs. According to the most recent 2010 National Academy of Science Report that explores strategies for expanding our labor force in science and engineering fields, a primary source of our science and engineering workforce originates from those who complete at least a Bachelor’s degree (National Academy of Sciences, 2010). Yet ethnic minorities and women remain disproportionately underrepresented among engineering and science degree recipients (National Science Foundation, 2011).