Postsecondary Choices and Enrollment of Aspiring STEM Students in Texas Public High Schools

• In Event: College Access Through STEM Opportunities

Abstract

In Fall 2014, the State of Texas implemented a new Foundation High School Program in public high schools to offer five endorsements that help students explore future careers. This new policy has great potential to improve American youth’s college and career readiness, encourage educational and career planning, and discover STEM talent. The study is based on the assumption that choice and completion of an endorsement can be viewed as an aspirational career indicator. Therefore, we focus on aspiring-STEM students to explore how their completion of STEM endorsement impacts high school graduation, postsecondary enrollment, and choice of institution. We will use statewide restricted data and conduct descriptive, comparative, and bivariate regression analyses.

Authors

• Maria Adamuti-Trache, The University of Texas - Arlington

• Yi Leaf Zhang, University of Texas at Arlington