Does Developmental Math Help Community College Students Persist in STEM?

• In Event: 43.026 - Factors That Stagnate or Promote STEM Interest in College: A Longitudinal Perspective

Abstract

Attrition from STEM pathways and inequality in STEM participation and attainment have motivated ample scholarship on ways to fortify the STEM pipeline. Researchers have importantly focused on such topics as developing student interest and engagement in STEM topics (Crisp, Nora, & Taggart, 2009), advising and early college interactions and momentum (Wang, 2013; 2015), financial incentives for STEM majors (Evans, 2017), and fostering math and science identities (Sax et al., 2015), among others.
Surprisingly, there has been less focus on structural barriers to STEM participation such as postsecondary math remediation (Chen, 2016). Even though students may build STEM momentum as they take science and math courses in high school (Gottfried & Bozick, 2016; Wang, 2015, 2016), momentum may fizzle as students encounter remedial math coursework. This may be particularly acute for students of color, who attend community colleges at higher rates and are therefore more subject to remediation than academically equivalent peers at four-year institutions (Attewell et al., 2006).
Given the potential connections between math remediation and college STEM outcomes, this study investigates whether assignment to a remedial/developmental math course affects the likelihood of STEM participation in the community college setting. We do so using data from a large urban community college district that serves about 200,000 students each year, the vast majority of whom are students of color. With access to demographic information, assessment and placement results, and full course enrollment records, we can link initial math course placement to enrollment in STEM courses. Specifically, we capitalize on the system of placement cutoffs used to assign students to various math courses in the developmental math sequence and use regression discontinuity (RD) design to determine the impact of these course assignments. With the rich transcript data, we determine if there is a causal impact of remedial placement on students’ likelihood of enrollment in introductory STEM courses and the length of time to STEM enrollment.
Importantly, we also investigate how math remediation affects students who graduate from local high schools “ready” for college-level STEM courses. We develop measures of STEM readiness and STEM aspirations based on students’ individual high school transcript records, looking at such indicators as STEM course-taking in high school and initial major in college. Finally, subgroup analyses allow us to determine if there are differences in the relationship between math and STEM enrollment for different groups of students, such as females and students of color.
Preliminary results from one college suggest that students around the algebra threshold perform similarly irrespective of placing in lower or upper level remedial math course (see Figures 1 and 2). Our results suggest no benefit to lower-level math placement with respect to STEM participation. The full paper will report how this relationship differs across multiple colleges and by sub-groups. The study provides important evidence on how math remediation impacts entry into STEM pathways among students who are historically underrepresented in STEM fields.

Authors

• Elizabeth Park, University of Southern California

• Federick Ngo, University of Nevada - Las Vegas