Broadening Participation in STEM College Majors

The data and analyses described in this paper are part of a larger controlled longitudinal study of the impacts of attending an inclusive STEM high school (ISHS). We define an ISHS as a school or school within a school accepting students primarily on the basis of interest rather than aptitude or prior achievement and giving them more intensive mathematics and science preparation than their state requires for graduation in order to prepare them for STEM college majors and careers. The project is testing the effects of attending an ISHS using student surveys, academic records, and interviews in Texas, North Carolina, and Ohio—three states with significant numbers of ISHSs and strong administrative data systems. Across the three states, the study has examined high school experiences and outcomes for students first surveyed in the 9th or 12th grade in 50 ISHSs plus students in the same grades in same-state comparison schools identified through propensity score matching. Matched students in ISHSs and comparison schools were surveyed a second time after 3 years (for those originally surveyed as 9th-graders) or were followed up in state higher education records two years after high school graduation (for those surveyed originally as 12th graders). After controlling for differences in the characteristics of students entering STEM and non-STEM high schools, the team has compared students on high school outcomes related to college readiness and the pursuit of postsecondary work in STEM. These include STEM interest and expectations as well as course-taking, graduation, and achievement. This project also has examined alternative types of ISHSs and explored relationships between STEM school design and implementation features and student outcomes. Policymaker interviews and survey data from school leaders provided information on school context, design, and implementation features and as well as state policy influences. Subgroup analyses have investigated whether different kinds of students benefit differently from the ISHS experience.