Women in Secondary STEM Courses: Establishing a Pipeline for Success

• In Event: Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Experiences of K-12 Students in STEM Disciplines

Abstract

The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) is a programme of education with final examinations that prepares students, aged 16 to 19, for success at university and beyond. The structure of the IB DP enables students to have two challenging options, standard level (SL) or higher level (HL) courses. Using data from the IB DP, this study analyzes male and female enrollment patterns in STEM courses as well as performance in higher level courses, thereby providing insight into the STEM pipeline. Performance levels, when analyzed as a whole through the use of hierarchical linear modeling, are generally equal, with women performing slightly better. However, women appear to enroll less frequently in STEM subjects in general and specifically the HL option.

Authors

• Liz Bergeron, New Tech Network

• Melissa Gordon, International Baccalaureate