STEM Course Offering Patterns Following the Statewide Rollout of Project Lead the Way

• In Event: Pathways Into STEM Fields: Studies of Project Lead the Way

Abstract

Many high schools across the country are modifying their STEM curricula, in part driven by heightened attention on preparing students for STEM professions (National Academy of Engineering, 2014). Programs that aim to enrich students’ STEM experiences have been widely adopted (Rodriguez et al., 2020), and in Missouri, the focus of this study, PLTW adoption in high schools has increased steadily since 2005. While student participation in PLTW is clearly the most important mechanism for program impact, students’ access to the program’s learning opportunities is governed by their schools’ course offerings. To understand PLTW’s impact on students, it is thus useful to understand patterns in the availability of PLTW courses, and STEM courses more broadly. We find little research on long term historical patterns of STEM course offerings in a state, and virtually no research on how such offerings change following widespread implementation of PLTW. Examining such patterns is the focus of this paper.

The adoption of programs like PLTW has the potential to have a significant impact on schools. When schools implement programs like PLTW they must make a series of strategic choices about how to allocate teaching resources, adjust their curriculum, and allocate financial resources to curriculum and equipment purchases. Given the widespread adoption of PLTW in Missouri, the rollout of the program also has the potential to impact broader access to STEM learning opportunities across the state.

This study utilizes twenty three years (2000 to 2022) of school-level course offering data from the state of Missouri. This time series begins five years before the program was implemented by any school in the state, and captures 17 years of program implementation. The analytic sample includes 544 high schools, including public and public charter schools. The primary variables of interest include the timing of PLTW enrollment implementation in a school, proportions of course offerings for specific subjects, and student enrollments in specific subjects. This study employs descriptive statistics and difference-in-difference analytic methods to examine changes in course offerings over time.

Preliminary results indicate a significant change in STEM-related course offerings in schools following PLTW implementation. Notably, the availability of subjects like industrial technology and health occupations increased over time. This pattern may indicate increased student interest and engagement in these subjects.

Other STEM subjects, such as agriculture, exhibited a decrease in their share of course offerings after PLTW implementation. Given the nationwide call for attention to agriculture education and its recognized importance (DiBenedetto et al., 2018), understanding how PLTW implementation may be impacting agricultural education and other subject areas is worthy of further attention.

In conclusion, this study investigates how STEM course offering patterns changed in Missouri high schools after schools began implementing the course-based STEM program PLTW. As STEM education continues to shape the future workforce, understanding access to STEM learning opportunities in high school, especially in the key fields of engineering, biomedical science and computer science, is of critical importance.

Authors

• Xinyi Mao, University of Central Florida

• Eric M. Camburn, University of Missouri - Kansas City