Exploring Community Colleges in the Stem Education Landscape : development of stem college major choice model

<p>Community colleges are becoming increasingly relevant as an entrance point into postsecondary education for potential science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. These institutions are also an important education pathway for women and racial/ethnic minorities who are currently underrepresented in the STEM workforce. The purpose of this study is to understand how student demographics, high school, and college experiences influence the entrance of community college students to the STEM college majors. Data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002) were used for the study. Students included in the study began their postsecondary education at community colleges. Descriptive and binary logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the impact of student demographics, high school, and college experience on the choice of STEM college major. The findings of this study suggest gender, race/ethnicity, academic preparation, and interest in STEM fields upon entering college influence the choice of STEM major by community college students.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD Higher Education Leadership, Management, Policy

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education Leadership, Management and Policy

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Evans, Colleen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Rong Chen
• Martin Finkelstein
• Eunyoung Kim

• Community colleges
• science
• technology
• mathematics
• major choice
• Community College Education Administration
• Higher Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/1917

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.shu.edu:dissertations-2925