2014 - The downside of good peers: How classroom composition differentially affects men’s and women’s STEM persistence

Attribution: , & Stefanie
Researchers: FischerStefanie
University Affiliation:
Email: stefaniejfischer@umail.ucsb.edu
Research Question:
The aim of this study is to understand the differential impact of the number of on-track students in a general chemistry lecture relative to late-track students on STEM completion for men and women.
Published: Yes
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: School Effectiveness and School Improvement
Journal Entry:
Year: 2014
Findings:

– Women who are enrolled in a class with higher ability peers are less likely to graduate with a STEM degree, while men’s persistence in STEM is unaffected by class composition.
– The author also showed that the decline for women is most pronounced for those in the bottom third of the ability distribution.
– However, both men and women receive higher grades in classes with higher ability peers.
– Overall, these results suggest that class composition as an important factor in determining STEM persistence for women and provide a novel explanation for part of the STEM gender gap in post-secondary education.

* Not Finished. Waiting for published article!

Scholarship Types: Journal Article Reporting Empirical ResearchKeywords: College ChoiceHigh School CompositionMultilevel MediationOrganizational HabitusPeer InfluencesSocioeconomic CompositionRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Secondary Survey DataAnalysis Methods: Multilevel Modeling Sampling Frame:College Freshmen in STEM
Sampling Types: Nationally RepresentativeAnalysis Units: SchoolStudentData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:

This paper utilizes the theory of college choice organizational habitus(CCOH), which can be described as the collective sensibilities, preferences, and values of the school regarding postsecondary education. The theory of CCOH suggests that normative structures and collective attitudes regarding college choice are at least partially born out of the socioeconomic-based school culture related to the value of a college degree and the feasibility of earning one.

Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. Based on the data from 15,325 tenth grade students throughout 752 public and private schools. This study focused on 10,151 students in 580 public schools.

The dependent variable was college choice. This was measured as a 4-point ordinal outcome based primarily on the selectivity of the postsecondary institution the student enrolls in directly after high school. It is coded as follows, with the percentage in each category in parenthesis: 0 = did not enroll in college (31%), 1 = enrolled in non-selective 2-year college (26%), 2 = enrolled in less-than-selective 4-year college (31%), 3 = enrolled in selective 4-year college (12%).

The independent variables were college choice organizational habitus, school inputs, student postsecondary controls, and student background controls.

Socioeconomic composition and six measures of college choice organizational habitus are the central independent variables of this study. Socioeconomic composition (SEC) is the school mean of students’ SES, which was measured in both 2002 and 2004, when students were in 10th and 12th grades. The average of the 2002 and 2004 measures was used to provide an estimate of SEC during the period of this study.

The six measures of CCOH are organized into two classes based on the work of McDonough (1997), normative structures and collective attitudes about college choice. Normative structures are essentially school practices and processes that imbue the organizational perception of the values and feasibility of various postsecondary options. The specific normative structures used in this study are college prep curriculum, homework emphasis, and academic mission. College prep curriculum is an ordinal measure on an 8-point scale indicating the highest level math course a student took during high school. Because college preparatory math is generally not required by states in America for high school graduation, but 2 to 4 years is required for admission to many 4-year colleges and almost all selective colleges, this variable is considered a proxy measure for a school-wide curriculum focusing on college prep course taking. Academic mission is a factor score of principal-reported items on the degree to which teachers, counselors, and students focus on academics. Homework emphasis is the mean number of hours students report spending on homework per week.

Student selection into schools is non-random and student inputs differ substantially across the sample schools.

CCOH is an abstract and theoretic construct; as such, it is difficult, if not impossible, to measure directly. To investigate such constructs using quantitative methods, one must rely on proxy measures and latent variables, which arguably measure something more concrete than CCOH.

Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:0
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