Exploring Factors that Predict STEM Persistence at a Large, Public Research University

Abstract

The present study explores demographics, pre-college characteristics and multi-year (2003-2013) tracking of a census of 53,077 students who initially declared a STEM major upon entering a research university in Texas and seeks to predict graduation with a STEM and non-STEM degree. Guided by QuantCrit theory, we use multilevel models to determine factors that predicted persistence in any major and factors that predicted persistence in STEM, as well as use marginal effects to explore the intersection of ethnicity, sex, and first-generation status. Results highlight the disparity that exist amongst Black students and their White counterparts with regards to persistence in any major. We also highlight the gap between first-generation White and Black first-generation females and their Asian and International counterparts with regards to persistence in STEM. Implications for future research and practitioners suggest further attention needs to be paid to Black first-generation students.

Person‐centered analyses in quantitative studies about broadening participation for Black engineering and computer science students

“…QuantCrit is not a theory; the authors describe their approach as a framework or toolkit to interpret quantitative research results. To date, it has not been widely applied in engineering education contexts beyond a selection of studies with a broader STEM framing (e.g., Priddie, 2021;Su arez et al, 2021). The framework is embodied by the following five principles given by Gillborn et al (2018):…”

“…QuantCrit is not a theory; the authors describe their approach as a framework or toolkit to interpret quantitative research results. To date, it has not been widely applied in engineering education contexts beyond a selection of studies with a broader STEM framing (e.g., Priddie, 2021; Suárez et al, 2021). The framework is embodied by the following five principles given by Gillborn et al (2018): The centrality of racism; this principle asserts that racism is a pervasive component of society that is difficult, or even impossible in the opinion of some scholars, to quantify (Garcia et al, 2018).…”

Asking Big: Creating a Culture of Support for Academic Mothers’ Advocating in Times of Crisis

“…Recent research conducted at a large public research university in the American Southwest shows that Black first-generation women students struggle to persist in their STEM studies more than their White and Asian counterparts (Suárez et al, 2021). And for those who do persist and go on to pursue advanced degrees in STEM fields to become full-time faculty, they are met with regular microaggressions from White and male colleagues on top of additional responsibilities as a result of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Movement (Fulweiler et al, 2021;Suárez et al, 2021). Tenisha Tevis (2021) calls attention to these circumstances in her recent article touching on the invisible labor of othermothering that has reached unmanageable levels over the last year.…”

A National Study Exploring Factors Promoting Adolescent College Readiness in Math and Science (STEM-CR)

“…To bridge CR and STEM education, a theoretically driven framework is needed to support student pathways to higher education and STEM fields (Klasik & Strayhorn, 2018;. To address this issue, we developed and organized a framework of CR for secondary students, specifically, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) who are underrepresented in the STEM pipeline (Holcomb-McCoy, 2021;Suarez et al, 2021). Our framework uses an established CR model by David Conley (2010) that captures factors important for students to be prepared and successful in higher education.…”