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STEM Pathways: Examining Persistence in Rigorous Math and Science Course Taking

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Abstract

From 2006 to 2012, Florida Statute §1003.4156 required middle school students to complete electronic personal education planners (ePEPs) before promotion to ninth grade. The ePEP helped them identify programs of study and required high school coursework to accomplish their postsecondary education and career goals. During the same period Florida required completion of the ePEP, Florida’s Career and Professional Education Act stimulated a rapid increase in the number of statewide high school career academies. Students with interests in STEM careers created STEM-focused ePEPs and may have enrolled in STEM career academies, which offered a unique opportunity to improve their preparedness for the STEM workforce through the integration of rigorous academic and career and technical education courses. This study examined persistence of STEM-interested (i.e., those with expressed interest in STEM careers) and STEM-capable (i.e., those who completed at least Algebra 1 in eighth grade) students (n = 11,248), including those enrolled in STEM career academies, in rigorous mathematics and science course taking in Florida public high schools in comparison with the national cohort of STEM-interested students to measure the influence of K-12 STEM education efforts in Florida. With the exception of multi-race students, we found that Florida’s STEM-capable students had lower persistence in rigorous mathematics and science course taking than students in the national cohort from ninth to eleventh grade. We also found that participation in STEM career academies did not support persistence in rigorous mathematics and science courses, a prerequisite for success in postsecondary STEM education and careers.

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Notes

  1. NAEP is a nationally representative and continuing assessment that is managed by the US Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (NCES 2016).

  2. See Table AI.1 in the electronic supplementary material, which contains the demographic distribution of the HSLS and EDW STEM-capable cohorts.

  3. See Table AI.2 in the electronic supplementary material, which contains a listing of the EDW raw data files.

  4. See Tables AI.3-5 in the electronic supplementary material for baseline criteria of the EDW STEM-capable cohort in grades 9–11.

  5. See Tables AI.6-11 in electronic supplementary material, which provide the 227 covariates selected in the HSLS dataset.

  6. See Figures AI.1a-d in the electronic supplementary material, which contains the propensity score distributions before and after trimming.

  7. See Tables AI.6-11 in electronic supplementary material, which describe the HSLS covariates balance before and after conditioning results.

  8. See Tables AI.12-13 in electronic supplementary material, which describe the Florida EDW covariates balance before and after conditioning results.

  9. See Table AI.14 in electronic supplementary material, which provide the frequencies of persistence for the Florida and HSLS STEM-capable students.

  10. See Table AI.14 in electronic supplementary material, which provide the frequencies of persistence for the EDW and HSLS.

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Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation’s ITEST (Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers) program under Grant No. (1139510). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational, Workforce, and Leadership Studies, Texas State University, 601 University Drive, Pedernales Building 110, San Marcos, TX, 78666, USA

    Shetay N. Ashford

  2. Center for Research, Evaluation, Assessment, and Measurement, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, EDU 105, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Rheta E. Lanehart, Reginald S. Lee & Jeffrey D. Kromrey

  3. Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut, 249 Glenbrook Road, Unit 3064, Charles B. Gentry Building, Storrs, CT, 06269-3064, USA

    Gladis K. Kersaint

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  1. Shetay N. Ashford
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Correspondence to Shetay N. Ashford.

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Ashford, S.N., Lanehart, R.E., Kersaint, G.K. et al. STEM Pathways: Examining Persistence in Rigorous Math and Science Course Taking. J Sci Educ Technol 25, 961–975 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-016-9654-0

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