To explore whether research on retention and non-completion in higher education, and in STM programmes in particular, has produced findings that can identify a direction forward for HE institutions and programmes to take measures to reduce the number of students leaving their chosen HE programme
Current Selections
ClearAcademic Success for STEM and Non-STEM Majors
1) What background characteristics, ability measures, financial support systems, and academic support mechanisms help explain retention and/or graduation for students in both STEM and non-STEM majors by the end of the sixth year? 2) Are the predictors of retention and/or graduation by the end of the sixth year different for STEM and non-STEM majors? 3) Are underrepresented students in STEM majors more likely than traditional students in STEM majors to be retained/graduated in six years when controlling for selected background, environmental, financial, and academic measures?
Does Gender Composition of the Classroom Matter? A Comparison of Students' Academic and Social Outcomes in Single-Gender and Coed High School Classrooms
How gender composition affects students’ academic and socio-emotional outcomes?
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Pathways: High School Science and Math Coursework and Postsecondary Degree Attainment
1) What levels of high school science and mathematics course-taking are related to future STEM baccalaureate degree attainment among all degree recipients? 2) How do students of different race, class, and gender groups differ in science and mathematics course-taking levels? 3) How does high school course-taking account for these disparities in STEM attainment?
Effects of learning about gender discrimination on adolescent girls' attitudes toward and interest in science
To examine whether adolescent girls’ interest in, and attitudes toward, science are affected by knowledge about gender discrimination in the field.
Gender-Specific Effects of Ecological Segregation on College Achievement
Specify a comprehensive path model estimated separately fro male and female respondents to the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen.
Gender Ratios in High School Science Departments: The Effect of Percent Female Faculty on Multiple Dimensions of Students' Science Identities
1) How does the percentage of female science faculty affect high school students’ science perceptions, achievement, views, self-concept, and college major aspirations, which collectively define and reinforce their science identities? 2) Are the effects of percent female science faculty different for girls and boys?
The Impact of Group Diversity on Performance and Knowledge Spillover- An Experiment in a College Classroom
Examined how group characteristics affect productivity.
Connecting Pieces of the Puzzle: Gender Differences in Black Middle School Students' Achievement
Explores the sources of variation in Black adolescent students’ academic achievement during Middle School.
Factors Associated With Mathematics Achievement and Participation in Advanced Mathematics Courses: An Examination of Gender Differences From an International Perspective
This paper reports results of an exploratory study examining factors that might be associated with achievement in mathematics and participation in advanced mathematics courses in Canada, Norway, and the United States of America (USA). These factors, which were not directly related to schooling accounted for large degrees of variability in mathematics achievement scores. Research questions: 1) How are the personal and environmental variables associated with achievement in mathematics for females and males in the three countries? 2) How are the personal and environmental variables associated with participation in advanced mathematics courses for females and males in the three countries?
The Effect of Schools and Classes on Language Achievement
The effect of schools and classes upon literacy in the second grade of secondary education.
Classroom Composition and Peer Effects
The extent to which the composition of classes affects learning outcomes.
The Effect of Schools and Classes on Mathematics Achievement
What are the effects of secondary schools, teachers, and classes on mathematics achievement.
Effects of High School Course-Taking and Other Variables on Choice of Science and Mathematics College Majors
To examine the effects of taking particular academically intensive science and mathematics high school courses on choice of science and mathematics majors, versus other majors, in college.
Tracking Financial Aid and Persistence of Women, Minority, and Needy Students in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics
1) What are the persistence patterns of the special student populations compared to other populations in the same institutional setting? 2) Are the special student populations financing higher education differently than the comparison groups? 3) Are there significant differences in the persistence patterns of SEM and SEM student populations based on the type of aid received? 4) Have the amounts and types of aid received by the special student populations changed over time compared to other student populations?
Peer Effects in the Classroom: Learning from Gender and Race Variation
Identify the effects of peers using sources of idisyncratic sources of variation, such as changes in the gender and racial composition.
Persistence in Science of High-Ability Minority Students: Results of a Longitudinal Study
The purpose of this study was to construct a comprehensive model to investigate why some high-ability minority students follow through with their plans to become scientists and engineers, while others with the same plans do not.
How High School Organization Influences the Equitable Distribution of Learning in Mathematics and Science
How social and academic organization of schools affects learning and its distribution?
A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and Retention. III. Gender Differences in Student Performance and Attitudes
Why did the women in the study- whose qualifications were arguably better than those of the men when they entered the chemical engineering curriculum- earn lower grades in chemical engineering courses and exhibit progressively lower confidence levels and expectations of themselves as they advanced through the curriculum?
Choosing and Leaving Science in Highly Selective Institutions
– Of the group of 2,276 students initially interested in science, 40 percent did not finally concentrate in science, and smaller proportions of women (48 percent) than of men (66 percent) persisted.
– The most significant cognitive factor predicting these losses was low grades earned in science courses taken during the first two years of study.
– With grades held equal, gender was not a significant predictor of persistence in engineering and biology; gender added strongly to grades, however, as a factor associated with unusually large losses of women from a category that included the physical sciences and mathematics.
– Science majors regarded their instruction as too competitive, with too few opportunities to ask questions, taught by professors who were relatively unresponsive, not dedicated, and not motivating.
– Students who defected from science did so largely because of the attraction of other fields, but many shared the criticism of over competitiveness and inferior instruction, along with the view that the work was too difficult.
– Except for perceived competitiveness, women did not rate their classroom experiences as being more unpleasant than did men.
Multicultural Education: Its Effects on Students' Racial and Gender Role Attitudes
Describes research on the effects of multicultural education on the perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs of K-12 students
Girls' Academic Achievements: Single-Sex Versus Coeducational Schools in Australia
Examines whether type of secondary school attended (sex composition) affects girls’ academic achievements net of other relevant factors.
Ability Grouping and Sex Differences in Mathematics Achievement
Investigate the effects of ability grouping and sex differences on the mathematics achievement of elementary school students.