NGCP Publications

The National Girls Collaborative Project™ (NGCP) strives to disseminate project findings, successes and lessons learned in order to raise awareness about the project and contribute to the knowledge base in the field of gender equity in STEM. NGCP Publications include scholarly articles and the Collaboration Guide.

• Summary of NGCP Mini-Grants
  This summary of 129 mini-grant projects funded by the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) is based on responses to an online report administered to mini-grant recipients by the external evaluator of NGCP, Evaluation & Research Associates. The mini-grant projects implemented activities in 24 different states and reached a total of 12,163 girls and 5, 609 boys. Respondents provided information about their project implementation, the collaboration with their partners, and the exemplary practices they utilized. Findings suggest the collaborations between partners were successful, with 93% selecting a 4 or 5 on a scale from 1 = Not successful to 5 = Very successful. Recipients believed participants had an enhanced experience due to the collaborative effort of the projects and that activities benefited from each partner's resources and expertise. Seventy-one percent of respondents indicated they would continue to work with their partner(s) after their mini-grant project ended. This summary was prepared by Evaluation & Research Associates.
  
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• NGCP Evaluation Summary
  This brief report highlights findings from four years of the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) using data from annual surveys administered to Program Directory entries, reports completed by mini-grant recipients, post-event and post-webinar surveys, surveys to Collaborative Leadership Team members, and metrics to show the project's reach. For example, at the time of the report in spring 2011, 3,275 participants had attended an NGCP in-person event and, of those completing an online survey, 77% had followed-up with somebody they met there. Seventy percent of partnering programs receiving a mini-grant indicated they planned to continue to work together. The report was prepared by Evaluation & Research Associates, evaluators of NGCP.
  
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• NGCP included in Landmark Conference Publication: A Watershed Moment
  The first National Conference for Science and Technology in Out-of-School Time, held in Chicago September 17-19, 2008, brought together more than 300 practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and funders. Convened by the Coalition for Science After School and Project Exploration, the conference provided in-depth, interactive sessions with a particular focus on equity and access issues for underrepresented populations. A Watershed Moment: The First National Conference on Science and Technology in Out-of-School Time documents the conference and includes an article focused on the National Girls Collaborative Project.
  
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• NGCP in The Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
  NGCP has published an article in the latest edition of The Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering. The article, co-authored by NGCP Principal Investigators Rose Marra, Karen Peterson and Brenda Britsch, explores the role of collaboration in the project, outcomes and future directions.
  
  Collaboration as a Means to Building Capacity: Results and Future Directions of the National Girls Collaborative Project
  
  It is commonly recognized that the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is too low both from a perspective of equal opportunity (Gowan & Waller, 2002; Sadker & Sadker, 1994) and for meeting the projected need of STEM professionals (Chubin, May & Babco, 2005). Studies show that the low representation of women in STEM professions begins as early as eighth grade, when twice as many boys than girls show an interest in STEM careers (Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering, and Technology Development, 2000), and continues in college, where women received only 21% of bachelor’s degrees awarded in engineering, 27% in computer sciences, and 43% in physical sciences (National Science Board, 2006). Factors such as perceptions of careers, confidence, role models, and career advice have been noted in the literature as contributing to the lack of females in information technology (Bartol & Aspray, 2006). Women constitute 45% of the workforce in the United States but hold 25% of science and engineering jobs and 29% of computer and mathematical occupations (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000).
  
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• Collaboration Guide
  A user-friendly guide to implementing the National Girls Collaborative Project, including an overview of the project, description of events and activities, and helpful tools and templates.
  
  View a PDF of the National Girls Collaborative Project Collaboration Guide.