The Importance of Community Colleges in Students' Choice to Major in STEM

Autor/inn/en	Bottia, Martha Cecilia; Stearns, Elizabeth; Mickelson, Roslyn Arlin; Moller, Stephanie; Jamil, Cayce
Titel	The Importance of Community Colleges in Students' Choice to Major in STEM
Quelle	In: Journal of Higher Education, 91 (2020) 7, S.1116-1148 (33 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Bottia, Martha Cecilia) ORCID (Stearns, Elizabeth) ORCID (Mickelson, Roslyn Arlin) ORCID (Moller, Stephanie)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-1546
DOI	10.1080/00221546.2020.1742032
Schlagwörter	Community Colleges; College Attendance; Majors (Students); STEM Education; Longitudinal Studies; High School Graduates; State Universities; Undergraduate Students; College Transfer Students; First Generation College Students; Economically Disadvantaged; Socioeconomic Status; Correlation; Graduation Rate; Educational Attainment; North Carolina + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Community college; Community College; College; Colleges; Attendance; Hochschule; Fachhochschule; Anwesenheit; STEM; Longitudinal study; Longitudinal method; Longitudinal methods; Längsschnittuntersuchung; High school; High schools; Graduate; Graduates; Oberschule; Absolvent; Absolventin; Staatliche Universität; Hochschulwechsel; Schulwechsel; Studienortwechsel; Socio-economic status; Sozioökonomischer Status; Korrelation; Bildungsabschluss; Bildungsgut
Abstract	This article investigates whether attending a community college is related to an increase in the number of students majoring and graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at four-year colleges. We follow a longitudinal sample of students in North Carolina from middle school through college graduation, including some who attended a community college. Our multilevel models indicate that for our sample of students, who attended a four-year institution and declared a major within 6 years of high school graduation, ever attending a community college and/or starting post-secondary education at a community college have a significant positive relationship with their likelihood of declaring and graduating with a STEM major. Results hold true even after controlling for sample self-selection through propensity score matching techniques. Our findings also show that the benefits of community college attendance on students' likelihood of declaring and graduating with a STEM major are not restricted to only low-SES students. Overall, this study supports the notion that two-year colleges could work as means of helping push students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds into STEM. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01