Choosing a STEM Path: "Course-Sequencing in High School and Postsecondary Outcomes"
Author: Lee, Jonghwan
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: High Schools,Experimental Schools,Intervention,College Attendance,Student Surveys,STEM Education,Academic Advising,Workshops,School Activities,Program Effectiveness,Program Implementation,Academic Records,Statistical Data,Science Interests,Student Interests,Academic Aspiration,Student Educational Objectives,Developmental Studies Programs,Student Characteristics,Pretests Posttests,Quasiexperimental Design,Comparative Analysis,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Predictor Variables,College Choice

The College Ambition Program (CAP) model was developed to support high schools in preparing their students to enter STEM fields. CAP includes four programmatic components: mentoring, course counseling and advising, college-related activities and workshops, and teacher professional development and instructional support. This study is part of a larger project that will test the overall effectiveness of the CAP intervention model that is concluding its first year of implementation and data collection (2010-2011). Currently, two experimental schools and two control schools will be included in the analysis. Data will be collected from school records, student surveys, and merged with state data. Each component of the intervention has specific measures for assessing relative value for increasing college attendance and STEM interest among students who are college ready, but do not enroll in postsecondary school after high school graduation. This smaller study will look at the relationship between math, science, and technology course-taking behavior in high school and students' college and career aspirations to answer the follow questions: (1) Which math, science, and/or technology courses in high school (or combination of these) influence the likelihood of a student pursing a STEM major or career?; and (2) How do attitudes about math and science influence the likelihood of a student pursuing a STEM major or career? This research question will be examined with a two approaches, first using national data and then using the CAP data. At this time, this study has preliminary results obtained from ELS: 2002 and CAP. Once transcript data from each school participating is in CAP program is obtained over the summer, then the full analysis will be performed and ready by the time of the fall conference. Descriptive results from ELS: 2002 show that gender and school location are the important factor whether students go for STEM-related major or not. Science courses have a more important role for students to pursue a path to the STEM major in college than mathematic courses. The combination of mathematics and sciences course is also important factor for student to make decision on STEM-related major. The conclusions from both parts of this study will be ready by the fall conference. This study will hopefully be able to provide information about the courses schools can offer and encourage students to enroll in while in high school to prepare them for a career in the high-demand field of STEM. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)