Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
Community college transfer programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can open the door into STEM baccalaureate programs and high-paying careers for low-income, adult-age, and marginalized students. How can states and colleges achieve the full potential of STEM programs in community colleges?
Investigating the Viability of Transfer Pathways to STEM Degrees: Do Community Colleges Prepare Students for Success in University STEM Courses?
2023
Peter Riley Bahr, Elizabeth Starke Jones, and Joshua Skiles
Community College Review
https://doi.org/10.1177/00915521231181955
Community colleges have considerable potential to grow the number of individuals who complete STEM baccalaureate degrees and to broaden access to educational opportunities in STEM. However, efforts to tap this potential have been hampered by nagging questions about whether community colleges prepare students adequately for advanced STEM courses at universities. In this study, we draw on data from four universities in Michigan to investigate differences in the course and degree outcomes of students who completed prerequisite STEM courses in community colleges versus students who completed prerequisites at the university.
Topics: STEM
Reducing the Loss of Community College Students Who Demonstrate Potential in STEM
2023
Peter Riley Bahr, Jon McNaughtan, and Grant R. Jackson
Research in Higher Education
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-022-09713-8
Community colleges serve nearly half of all undergraduates, including a disproportionate share of African American and Hispanic students, and are a key point of access to higher education for students who face socioeconomic disadvantages or other obstacles to participation in higher education. Community colleges stand to play a pivotal role in strengthening the nation’s workforce and increasing opportunity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. However, a troublingly large fraction of community college students who complete advanced STEM courses ultimately leave college without postsecondary credentials. Utilizing data from the California Community College system, we investigated four hypothesized explanations for why students who have demonstrated potential to succeed in STEM fields by completing an advanced course in math, chemistry, or physics did not complete college. We found that students who left college tended to enter the STEM curriculum at lower levels of skills, struggled in non-STEM coursework, and did not take or were unable to pass STEM courses in other fields. They also were more likely to be White and more likely to be male. We conclude with recommendations for institutional policy and practice and for future research.
Topics: STEM
Patterns of STEM-Math Enrollment and Completion
2022
Heather McKay, Peter Riley Bahr, Suzanne Michael, Daniel Douglas, James Boyle, and Marilyn Smith
Strong Start to Finish and the Education Commission of the States
https://strongstart.org/resource/patterns-of-stem-math-enrollment-and-completion/
In today’s technological and knowledge based economy, both community and four-year colleges have worked to increase entry into STEM education and ensure student success. This report examines issues of equity in access to STEM programs within the context of the Colorado Community College System and suggest practices and policies to promote equity based on these findings.
Topics: STEM; Assessment, Placement, and Skill Development
Institutional Receptivity to STEM Transfer Students: A Scan of Transfer Policies and Practices in Four Michigan Universities
2021
Peter Riley Bahr, Elizabeth Starke Jones, and Joshua Skiles
Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, University of Michigan
The six partner institutions of the Michigan Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), funded by the National Science Foundation, are deeply engaged in work to improve pathways to STEM baccalaureate degrees for community college students. This brief report summarizes key findings regarding partner institutions’ policies and practices that may influence the success of transfer students, especially transfer students pursuing STEM degrees. This report offers recommendations for improvement for these partner institutions, informed by recent research that highlights structural barriers to transfer between community colleges and four-year institutions, such as opaque and inaccurate online information, overly complex transfer pathways, and inadequate credit mobility policies (e.g., Monaghan & Attewell, 2015; Schudde, Bradley, & Absher, 2019).
Topics: STEM
Multiple Paths Forward: Diversifying Mathematics as a Strategy for College Success
2018
Pamela Burdman, Kathy Booth, Chris Thorn, Peter Riley Bahr, Jon McNaughtan, and Grant Jackson
WestEd and Just Equations
https://www.wested.org/resources/multiple-paths-forward-executive-summary/
California community colleges are implementing a new law, AB 705, that is intended to improve students’ completion of college degrees and credentials. A central objective of the law is to increase students’ likelihood of completing math requirements in one year or less. Providing students with multiple pathways to fulfill those requirements is one strategy California community colleges can use to achieve that objective.
Topics: Assessment, Placement, and Skills Development; STEM
Unrealized Potential: Community College Pathways to STEM Baccalaureate Degrees
2017
Peter Riley Bahr, Grant Jackson, Jon McNaughtan, Meghan Oster, and Jillian Gross
Journal of Higher Education
https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2016.1257313
Our understanding of community college pathways to baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is remarkably incomplete, despite growing recognition of the sizeable role that community colleges stand to play in increasing the number of students who enter STEM baccalaureate programs, particularly underrepresented students. Here, we drew from data on nearly 3 million students to analyze participation in and navigation of the STEM transfer curriculum in community colleges, while focusing primarily on the fields of math, chemistry, and physics. We found that a large number of students enrolled in college-level STEM coursework, and many of these students were of demographic groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields. Yet, comparatively few students progressed into advanced STEM coursework. Moreover, the contribution of community colleges to resolving longstanding demographic inequities in STEM is constrained by pronounced gender and racial/ethnic differences in points of entry into the STEM curriculum, pathways through STEM, and manner of exit from STEM. As a result, much of the considerable potential of community colleges to improve STEM baccalaureate production and equity of opportunity in STEM remains largely unrealized at this point. We conclude with practical recommendations and a detailed research agenda to guide future inquiry on this subject.
Topics: STEM
A Review and Critique of the Literature on Community College Students’ Transition Processes and Outcomes in Four-Year Institutions
2013
Peter Riley Bahr, Christie Toth, Kathryn Thirolf, and Johanna C. Massé
Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5836-0_10
The successful transfer of community college students to four-year institutions has been and remains a subject of intense scholarly, policy, and public interest. For a variety of reasons, however, scrutiny of the transfer mission of community colleges, and of the success of community college transfer students in completing baccalaureate degrees, is particularly acute at this time. Unfortunately, the body of literature that informs discourse on community college students’ attainment of baccalaureate degrees disproportionately neglects students’ experiences in the four-year institution and the role of the four-year institution in supporting their success. Moreover, with the exception of a few sustained lines of inquiry, research in this area generally has been fragmented and unsystematic, further limiting the advancement of knowledge. Here, we seek to remedy this problem and provide a foundation for future inquiry by articulating and defining the core concepts in this area, discussing and critiquing the measurement of these concepts, summarizing findings, and offering recommendations for the advancement of future research.
Topics: STEM