High School Course Access and Postsecondary STEM Enrollment and Attainment

Abstract

We study the effects of access to high school math and science courses on postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrollment and degree attainment using administrative data from Missouri. Our data include more than 140,000 students from 14 cohorts entering the 4-year public university system. The effects of high school course access are identified by exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in course offerings within high schools over time. We find that differential access to high school courses does not affect postsecondary STEM enrollment or degree attainment. Our null results are estimated precisely enough to rule out moderate impacts.

Illuminating inequality in access: Variation in enrollment in undergraduate engineering programs across Virginia's high schools

“…Given our findings that the relationship with school size is no longer significant when accounting for community and four‐year enrollment rates for most models, we push back on the notion that larger schools can offer more STEM experiences and, therefore, graduate more students who will pursue engineering in college. Our finding joins a recent study based in Missouri using a longitudinal data system that found that postsecondary STEM enrollment was not influenced by differential access to courses across high schools (Darolia, Koedel, Main, Ndashimye, & Yan, 2018).…”

Using random forest analysis to identify student demographic and high school‐level factors that predict college engineering major choice

“…Researchers have examined the influences of various high school characteristics on college engineering major choice, including the proportion of students eligible for free or reduced‐price lunch and underrepresented racially minoritized (URM) students, the urbanicity of the high school, its culture, and teachers. Among the various aspects of high school characteristics, researchers have found that while proportion of students eligible for free or reduced‐price lunch and the rural–nonrural disparity are likely to influence students' choice to major in engineering, increasing the number of high school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses offered alone will not causally increase the proportion of students choosing STEM majors in college (Darolia et al, 2020). Furthermore, while both high school culture and high school teachers are important for the success of students, their direct influences on college engineering major choice are unclear (Caprara et al, 2006; Ma & Willms, 2004; Sahin et al, 2017).…”

“…Studies have also investigated the influence of high school STEM course offerings on student's choice of a STEM major in college (e.g., Darolia et al, 2020; Main, Darolia, et al, 2017). Main, Darolia, et al (2017) showed that while there are differences across high schools in the proportion of students choosing to major in engineering related to high school characteristics, the relationship between math and science course offerings and engineering major choice is more complex.…”

“…Given the critical role of engineering and the potential increasing need for engineering professionals, college engineering major choice has been studied by many researchers. Previous studies have identified several high school‐level factors associated with choosing engineering as a college major, including the characteristics and quality of high schools (e.g., Darolia et al, 2018, 2020; Tyson et al, 2007; Wang, 2013); the role of high school teachers (e.g., Seymour & Hewitt, 1997; Trenor et al, 2008); student high school math/science test scores (e.g., Main et al, 2018; Maple & Stage, 1991; Marra et al, 2009); and student levels of self‐efficacy (e.g., Aschbacher et al, 2010; Lent et al, 2008). Engineering‐inspired courses and programs have also been offered in K‐12 classes to promote student interest in postsecondary engineering education (e.g., Brophy et al, 2008; Welty et al, 2008), along with other K‐12 engineering outreach programs (e.g., Jeffers et al, 2004).…”

Essays on state merit-based financial aid : seeking STEM, revisiting methodology, and test retakers

“…In this study, engineering majors/degrees have three main categories: engineering, computer science, and technology. STEM majors/degrees have additional categories apart from engineering, including agricultural and animal sciences, natural science, biological science, mathematics, military/security science, physical science, psychology, business, social science, and health science (Darolia et al, 2020). For detail information about the definition of each STEM/engineering category and its CIP code, please see Table A.1 in Appendix A.…”