R1B

Strategic Research Project

Table of Contents

Relevant Terms

Identify Potential Gaps or Areas for Growth

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT)

Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE)

External Factor Evaluation (EFE)

Tables

1 Strengths and Weaknesses (SWOT) Factors

2 Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Factors

3 Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE)

4 External Factor Evaluation (EFE)

Relevant Terms

Homogeneous means sameness or similar (Shim et al., 2014).

Intersectionality explains the connection between one's social identity and one's ability, and how that connection works together to for both positive and negative experiences, has continued to be a topic of debate in modern day academia (Smooth, 2013).

Matriculation is the ability to register for a course because academic requirements have been met (Justman & Méndez, 2018).

Pedagogical is the theory or practice of teaching and its processes (LaVelle et al., 2020).

Propelians are students who strive for success, uphold good character traits, act as leaders within their communities and who attend PROPEL (Propel, 2020).

Recruitment is the selection of finding individuals to join an organization or cause through an evaluation process (Ekwoaba et al., 2015).

Stakeholders are individuals that are vested in a business or venture (PROPEL stakeholders: Talent Forward foundation, Johnson and Johnson Foundation, Students, Parents and Mentors) (PROPEL, 2020).

STEM is a cohesive teaching philosophy that includes four separate disciplines, which are Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (Akerson et al., 2018).

Women of Color is an idiom that describes females that are non-white (Ong et al., 2020).

Identify Potential Gaps or Areas for Growth

Ideally, organizations are structured to be efficient and optimal for its clients. However, there are several components organizations initiate to help make the aforementioned possible. In educational agencies efficiency and optimization is not always the outcome of the process. Organizations include such areas components as mission statement, vision, and strategic plan, but educational agencies also include curriculum development and implementation. Curriculum development and implementation are important to note because usually with the educational context the process involves human capital, which can change its output based on the perspective and agenda of the individual teacher or administrator.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT)

A SWOT Analysis is a tool, which is used to examine an organization and its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Thompson et al., 2007). A SWOT analysis can be instrumental in analyzing an educational organization. I performed a SWOT analysis on the after-school educational system- PROPEL, Inc. I completed a list of 40 internal and external factors affecting the educational organization. I determined the internal factors from occurrences observed within the organization. External factors were identified based on expected opportunities and threats existing outside the educational organization. A ratings score was assigned to each category. The intent of this analysis is to provide a proactive plan for PROPEL, Inc. for the successful achievement of its stated goals. PROPEL, Incorporated’s SWOT analysis incorporated many different aspects of the program.

Strengths. After-school programs have been known to play a role in promoting growth and development for all youth, including economically disadvantaged youth (Allen & Burgess, 2020). After-school programs provide opportunities for students to build creativity and originality. Many students benefit from participating in extracurricular activities, which often happen during after-school programming.

PROPEL, Inc. offers student’s positive mentors in the STEM field, which offers students ideal role models (Propel America, 2021). PROPEL Inc. is vital for students in underserved areas and essential for female students interested in STEM fields (Propel America, 2021).

PROPEL, Inc., offers enhancement of their mission and vision statements by providing opportunities for leadership, teamwork and collaboration building. This in turn, reinforces and improves students’ active listening, their commitment to the program, and builds a strong morale and work ethic (Propel America, 2021). PROPEL teaches skills and strategies, strengthens student completion and encourages achievement (Propel America, 2021).

Weaknesses. As efficient and effective that after-school programs seem to be, there are also weaknesses in the PROPEL program that can be improved. The challenge of maintaining a successful program is curbing the declining enrollment. Several students have not participated in the program due the current pandemic (CDC, 2021). The pandemic has affected the funding for the organization. Initially the funding was seeded by a grant, but in order to maintain the organization outside funding sources are important.

In addition, maintaining active communication with stakeholders is lacking. Communication with stakeholders has decreased partly due to the pandemic but also the outreach to the community has not been as easy. This leads to the next weakness, which has been the lack of new mentors, especially female mentors in STEM (Justman & Mendez, 2018; Ong et al., 2011). PROPEL has not been able to recruit a steady stream of new female mentors; especially, women of color who are currently employed in the STEM field.

All programs have strengths and weaknesses that play a part in the daily success of their participants (Marsick & Watkins, 2003). PROPEL, Inc., also has aspects where they need to fill the void. One example that needs to be improved is the publicity of the program. Lack of publicity has caused a deficiency in enrollment. Students are only able to register for the program during the enrollment period, which is once a year (Propel America, 2021). Students should be allowed to register year-round. This would most likely attract more students to the program if they were given other opportunities to enroll throughout the year.

Table 1: Strengths and Weaknesses (SWOT) Factors

1

2Vision

3

4

5Commitment

6Workforce

7Donors

8Retention

9Completion

10

1

2

3

4Lack of communication with stakeholders

5Shortage of mentors (employees)

6No publicity (marketing)

7Attrition rates

8College Acceptance

9Student placement

10

Financial challenges/stability

Recruitment

Strength Factors

Weakness Factors

Mission

Leadership

Curriculum

Morale

Declining Enrollment (Pandemic)

Turnover

Opportunities. Hiring more staff would increase the ability of PROPEL’s reach to the young women currently participating in the program as well as help recruit new participants. The limited number of staff members currently enrolled strains the time and energy, which sometimes results in lost opportunities to engage the young female participants.

The possibility of increasing the physical space would allow opportunity to construct functional labs that would allow the participants a more “hands on” approach to learning about STEM fields (Justman & Mendez, 2018). Many of the STEM fields involve the construction of objects; as such, more space would permit staff and mentors the ability to work with students in real time with objects specific to the project they are working on (Master et al, 2016).

There are many organizations who have dedicated resources to increasing the representation of women in STEM fields and careers (National Science Foundation, 2018). In light of COVID-19, many opportunities have arisen to work with other organizations virtually. As such, creating 21st century partnership would be instrumental in building relationship with other organizations, which can be helpful to creating new opportunities for the participants in PROPEL.

The research is ripe with the acknowledgement of the achievement gap that exist by both gender and race in the STEM fields (National Science Foundation, 2018). Overwhelmingly, women are lagging behind men when it comes to matriculation into STEM academic programs and STEM employment (Ong et al., 2020). PROPEL can be a driving force to change that trend (Propel America, 2021).

Threats. The trends are changing when it comes to educational preparedness. Many educational services are offering virtual educational curriculums that may challenge the current system used by PROPEL that requires in-person workshops and instruction. PROPEL can utilize partnerships that may be virtual in nature but the impact of in-person engagement is still ideal (Forward on Talent, 2021).

In light of the many changes to funding opportunities, relying on donors for financial assistance may be a challenge for PROPEL moving forward. PROPEL’s funding source is primarily received through outside funding sources, but due to the limitations caused by COVID-19 garnering new funding sources to maintain the after-school program has been a challenge (Forward on Talent, 2021; PROPEL, 2020).

There has been low attendance by some students which has threatened the viability of PROPEL. The existence of the after-school program in part is contingent on the enrollment and attendance of the participants (LaVelle et al., 2020). Due to the pandemic, many students were told not to attend the after-school program, especially since in-person attendance was not possible. As a result, the attendance in the PROPEL program by the female participants has dropped off somewhat. Strategies must be implemented to renew student commitment to the program (Ong et al., 2020).

Finally, there have been limited resources the program has been able to utilize as result of space and personal restrictions. PROPEL has had to forego the use of some equipment housed on school grounds due to the inability of gaining access to the building. With the easing of some COVID restrictions access to facilities have recently increased but PROPEL has not been able to operate at full capacity.

Table 2: Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Factors

1

2

3

4Board of Elections

5Community Outreach

6Expanding Locations

7Partnership with 21st Century

8Development of PROPEL, Incorporated readiness program

9Collaboration with school district

10

1

2

3

4Change in demographics

5Lack of planning (mentors)

6Unreliable staff

7Low attendance

8Students not consistent

9Limited resources

10Rely on donors

Hire more committee/staff

Enrollment events

SAC program

Closing the achievement gap

Opportunity Factors

Threat Factors

Location/Neighborhood safety

Competitors

Trends changing

Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE)

Thompson et al. (2007) state that the advantages of using an IFE matrix is that it is easy to use and understand, and it focuses on internal and external key factors and it is useful in analyzing other comparison matrices.

Table 3: Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE)

Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix (IFE)

Strengths

WeightRatingWeighted Score

1.Mission0.1040.40

2.Vision0.0840.32

3.Leadership0.0630.18

4.Curriculum0.0730.21

5.Commitment0.0430.12

6.Workforce0.0220.04

7.Donors0.0230.06

8.Retention0.0330.09

9.Completion0.0330.09

10.

Morale0.0220.04

Weaknesses

WeightRatingWeighted Score

1.Declining Enrollment (Pandemic)0.1040.40

2.Turnover0.0330.09

3.Financial challenges/stability0.0230.06

4.Lack of communication to stakeholders0.0320.06

5.Shortage of mentors (employees)0.0230.06

6.No publicity (marketing)0.0520.10

7.Attrition rates0.0940.36

8.College Acceptance0.0420.08

9.Student placement0.0830.24

10.Recruitment0.0720.14

TOTALS1.003.14

Mission. The mission statement of any organization is vital to the progression and sustainability of the organization (Smooth, 2013). PROPEL’s mission clearly identifies its desire to encourage and uplift economically disadvantaged adolescent youth, specifically, students of color (Propel America, 2021). The mission statement for PROPEL is a major strength and is recorded as the first internal strength identified.

Vision. Vision provides an outlook for an organization and its prospects for growth and engagement (Kantabutra & Avery, 2010). PROPEL’s vision is transformative when discussing the programs intentions and implications for change (Propel America, 2021). PROPEL seeks to increase the representation of women and women of color, in particular, in the STEM fields (Propel America, 2021). PROPEL’s vision recognizes that women generally are an underrepresented group in the STEM fields, as such additional supports and exposure to STEM careers are necessary to increase representation (Washburn, 2004).

Leadership. Organizational leadership is paramount to an organization’s growth and sustainability (Social Solutions, 2018). PROPEL has been able to maintain a, fairly, stable leadership arm to the organization (Propel America, 2021).

Curriculum. PROPEL’s use of curriculum has been useful in its engagement of the adolescent’s introduction and training in the STEM fields (Washburn, 2004). The after-school program utilizes both a democratic and engaging pedagogical approach to STEM areas for the young women participants (Propel, 2020).

Pandemic. The pandemic has created a number of challenges resulting in challenges to the following issues related to weaknesses for PROPEL. There has been a number of restrictions placed on educational agencies which has reduced access to facilities and equipment PROPEL normally utilizes as its instructional apparatus (CDC, 2021; Forward on Talent, 2021).

Attrition. A number of students have dropped out of the program due to the pandemic. This issue has caused many issues within the program regarding student attendance (Forward on Talent, 2021).

Student Placement. Several organizations that provided internships for PROPEL participants no longer would accept them due to the pandemic (Forward on Talent, 2021). Some of those restrictions are now being lifted (CDC, 2021), however, there are still several agencies and companies who due to the pandemic are unable to continue to accept PROPEL participants.

Recruitment. Recruitment of new propelians is essential to the sustainability of the PROPEL program (Forward on Talent, 2021). Recruitment efforts have been stifled by the pandemic because many educational sites have been closed or there has been limited access to them (CDC, 2021). As such, the recruitment of new participants has been restricted.

External Factor Evaluation (EFE)

Enrollment Events. In order to combat low enrollment for the PROPEL program there should be several enrollment events initiated to encourage new participants. The pandemic has caused a drop in overall enrollment in the program, but a number of educational facilities are now reopening. An effort to engage with these organizations should be made to encourage participation by young women interested in STEM (Washburn, 2004).

Community Outreach. There are several local and statewide organizations that are interested increasing women and women of color in the STEM fields. Though PROPEL is a small local, grant funded program, an effort can be made to engage in rigorous community outreach. The program can create a robust list of existing organization that maybe helpful and supporting the mission of the after-school program (Justman & Mendez, 2018).

Expanding Locations. As indicated, PROPEL is a small after-school program that is locally operating in a southeastern southern state (PROPEL, 2020). The option to increase the presence of PROPEL in other areas in the state would increase the visibility of the program and encourage new participants. The pandemic has stifled the attendance, but the re-opening of schools might encourage a new interest in the program thereby increasing attendance (CDC, 2021).

Partnerships. Non-profit community organizations benefit from collaboration with other organizations. PROPEL currently is operating independently from other organizations that may have a similar mission and vision. Further, collaboration with other organizations would aid in the recruitment of new propelians into the program (Ekwoaba et al., 2015). By working with other organizations, PROPEL would gain exposure, which in turn may lead to new interest in the program (Powers, 2012).

Table 4: External Factor Evaluation (EFE)

External Factor Evaluation Matrix (EFE)

Opportunities

WeightRatingWeighted Score

1.Hire more committee/staff0.0440.16

2.Enrollment events0.1030.30

3.SAC Program0.0220.04

4.Board of Elections0.0120.02

5.Community Outreach0.0830.24

6.Expanding Locations0.0720.14

7.Partnership with 21st Century0.0630.18

8.Development of PROPEL, Incorporated readiness program0.0320.06

9.Collaboration with school district0.0630.18

10.Closing the achievement gap0.0520.10

Threats

WeightRatingWeighted Score

1.Location/Neighborhood Safety0.0440.16

2.Competitors0.0420.08

3.Trends Changing0.1030.30

4.

Change in Demographics0.0330.09

5.Lack of Planning (mentors)0.0220.04

6.

Unreliable Staff0.0730.21

7.Low Attendance0.0130.03

8.Students not consistent0.0230.06

9.Limited Resources0.0630.18

10.Rely on Donors

0.0920.18

TOTALS1.002.75

Trends Changing. The landscape of education is changing due to the pandemic (CDC, 2021). PROPEL has to be able to think of new ways of recruiting participants as well as sustaining them in the program. The goal is to increase the representation of women and women of color in STEM fields by exposing adolescent girls to STEM professionals and careers (Ong et al., 2020). The ability to create that exposure depends on new and initiative ideas of educational engagement in a semi-virtual world.

Rely on donors. Funding is always a challenge for non-profit agencies. PROPEL has been able to sustain itself through the generosity of foundations committed to increasing the representation of women in STEM fields (Forward on Talent, 2021). However, the pandemic has created several challenges for the program (CDC, 2021). Identifying new sources of incomes would be important for the program’s sustainability.

Staffing. Lack of female staff members and mentors for the program may affect the motivation and commitment of propelians (Washburn, 2004). While the gender of the staff and mentors should not matter, the crux of the program is about representation based on gender and race (LaVelle et al., 2020). As such, the program should help to ensure there is representation within the program itself.

Limited Resources. PROPEL has had to forego the use of some equipment housed on school grounds due to the inability of gaining access to the building. With the easing of some COVID restrictions access to facilities have recently increased but PROPEL has not been able to operate at full capacity (CDC, 2021).

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