2010 - Attrition in STEM Fields at a Liberal Arts College: The Importance of Grades and Pre-Collegiate Preferences

Attribution: Rask, Kevin
Researchers: Kevin Rask
University Affiliation: Wake Forest University
Email: Raskkn@wfu.edu
Research Question:
To quantify the important factors responsible for the high attrition rates in STEM majors, particularly in relation to gender.
Published: Yes
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Economics of Education Review
Journal Entry: Vol. 29, No. 6, Pp. 892-900
Year: 2010
Findings:
  1. The results suggest that absolute and sometimes relative grades are important, as is the intended major (as reported on the admissions application).
  2. Higher grades in STEM courses would increase persistence rates throughout all the majors.
  3. AP credits are also strongly correlated to taking a first course, but diminish in the more selected samples.
  4. From the results for men, both progression to a second semester and also a third, the grade received in the course is the most consistent and strongest influence on the decision to continue in the department.
  5. Men appear to be more sensitive than women to the grades received in their STEM courses. Both in terms of statistical significance and also magnitudes, at both stages of progression the men’s estimates are larger.
  6. At each stage, in no more than two departments do men or women exhibit sensitivity to their grades received outside of the STEM course.
  7. There is also strong evidence of ‘switching’ among the science majors, as those who enter intending to major in some other STEM department outside of the introductory course department have a high probability of majoring in the different department.
  8. The author did not find strong or consistent role model influences, peer influences, or course size influences on attrition.
  9. Simulations suggest that if science grade distributions were more like the college average, there would be roughly 2-4% more students progressing in STEM departments.
Scholarship Types: Journal Article Reporting Empirical ResearchKeywords: Academic AchievementCollege Major ChoiceGenderPersistencePrecollege FactorsRetentionSTEMRegions: NEMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Administrative DataAnalysis Methods: Conditional ModelsProbit Regression Sampling Frame:College Graduates
Sampling Types: PopulationAnalysis Units: StudentData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:
  • The author uses administrative data from the graduating classes of 2001-2009, 5044 graduates, from a north eastern liberal arts college. The STEM departments at the college are comprised of Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, and Psychology.
  • IVs: SATs, high school grades, and AP credits within the discipline account for specific math and English aptitudes along with general academic performance and discipline-specific pre-college courses. A variable measuring course size is included to test whether having bigger classes has a differential effect by gender. A simple instructor gender dummy and the proportion of women in the course are included to test whether there are role model effects or peer effects. A non-Asian dummy variable is included to test whether underrepresented racial minorities have different attrition rates.
  • In response to high attrition rates, some STEM departments have offered new gateway courses separate from the traditional introductory science course. Among other motivations, these courses are intended to give an alternative entry point to the major for those students less sure about their interest in science or those less prepared upon entering college. In some of the models these courses will be flagged with dummy variables.
  • The DVs focus on models of course choice that predict taking a second course conditional upon having taken a first, and the choice to take a third course conditional on having taken the second.The author modeled the choice of whether to: (1) not major in a STEM field, (2) major in a STEM field outside of the department from which the introductory course is being taken, (3) minor in the department of the introductory course, and (4) major in the department of the introductory course.
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:STEM Persistence and Retention, Gender and STEM
Archives: K-16 STEM Abstracts