Equity in the STEM Landscape: A Multi-Institutional Approach to Mapping Systemic Advantages Within STEM Courses

• In Event: Critical Analyses of STEM's Systemic Inequities

Abstract

Large introductory lecture courses are college students’ first formal interaction with STEM disciplines. Outcomes in these courses are often disparate across student populations and are associated with student retention. This study positions such grade disparities as a manifestation of systemic inequities and examines this by juxtaposing student grades in introductory STEM courses across five large, public, research-intensive US universities over ten years. At all institutions, course outcomes were positively associated with number of systemic advantages (according to ethnicity, gender, low income, first-generation status). These findings corroborate the existence of systemic inequities in STEM education, provide a basis for the exploration of contexts where inequities are exacerbated or reduced, and can be used to advocate for structural change within STEM education.

Authors

• Sarah Dorothy Castle, Michigan State University

• W. Carson Byrd, University of Michigan

• Benjamin P. Koester, University of Michigan

• Emily Bonem, Purdue University

• Natalia Caporale, University of California - Davis

• Sonja Cwik, University of Pittsburgh

• Kameron Denaro, University of California - Irvine

• Stefano Fiorini, Indiana University

• Becky Matz, Michigan State University

• Chris Mead, Arizona State University

• Kyle Whitcomb, University of Pittsburgh

• Chandralekha Singh, University of Pittsburgh

• Chantal Levesque-Bristol, Purdue University

• Timothy A McKay, University of Michigan