Effectiveness of Inclusive STEM High Schools

Inclusive STEM high schools have been heavily promoted in a number of states as a strategy for broadening participation in STEM studies and careers. This study addressed the question of whether these high schools improve the odds that their graduates will pursue a STEM major in college. State higher education records were obtained for students surveyed as seniors in 23 inclusive STEM high schools and 19 comparison schools without a STEM focus. Propensity score weighting was used to ensure that students in the comparison school sample were very similar to those in the inclusive STEM school sample in terms of demographic characteristics and grade 8 achievement. Students overall and from underrepresented groups who had attended inclusive STEM high schools were significantly more likely to be in a STEM bachelor’s degree program two years after high school graduation. For students who entered two-year colleges, on the other hand, attending an inclusive STEM high school was not associated with entry into STEM majors.

科学、技术、工程与数学（Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics，以下简称STEM）领域的包容性STEM高中已在多个州得到大力推广，作为拓宽STEM学习与职业参与路径的策略。本研究旨在探讨这类高中是否能够提升其毕业生在大学攻读STEM专业的概率这一核心问题。研究收集了23所包容性STEM高中与19所非STEM特色对照高中的高三受访学生的州级高等教育记录，并采用倾向得分加权（Propensity Score Weighting）方法，确保对照学校样本中的学生在人口统计学特征与八年级学业成绩方面，与包容性STEM高中样本学生高度匹配。研究结果显示，整体学生群体以及来自代表性不足群体的、曾就读包容性STEM高中的学生，在高中毕业两年后攻读STEM学士学位项目的概率显著更高。与之相反，对于进入两年制专科院校的学生而言，就读包容性STEM高中与攻读STEM专业并无显著关联。