Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

There is an unmet and growing demand in the U.S. labor market for college graduates with degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This issue has attracted attention from educators, policy analysts, and legislators, including plans from the Obama Administration to support professional development for STEM teachers and improve student access for STEM education in American schools (U.S. Department of Education).  However, the traditional education pathways that prepare students to enter STEM-related careers remain inadequate, particularly when considering the transition from high school to postsecondary education.

Dual-enrollment programs (in which students take college courses during high school) have been successful not only in providing students with academic opportunities in high school, but also in increasing students’ educational and career aspirations (Bailey, Hughes, & Karp, 2002; Karp, Calcagno, Hughes, Jeong, & Bailey, 2007). Additionally, prior research has identified student interest in STEM in high school as the best predictor of pursuing a degree and employment in a STEM-related field (Riegle-Crumb, Moore, & Ramos-Wada, 2011; Sadler, Sonnert, Hazari, & Tai, 2012; Tai, Liu, Maltese, & Fan, 2006).  Relatively little research has been conducted, however, on the intersection of dual-enrollment programs and academic achievement in postsecondary education among STEM students.

This paper explores pathways in STEM education through College Now, the country’s largest urban dual-enrollment program. A partnership between the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) and the City University of New York (CUNY), College Now provides public high school students access to college courses and pre-college activities. College Now serves 20,000 students enrolling in nearly 30,000 courses, per year. Over half of College Now participants subsequently enter a CUNY degree program (CUNY Office of Research, Evaluation & Program Support, 2014).

This paper examines the impact of participation in a college-level STEM course as part of College Now on intermediate and long-term postsecondary choices and outcomes, specifically related to entrance and persistence in postsecondary STEM education. Employing a propensity-score matching (PSM) method, a sample of over 8,000 NYCDOE students who participated in a College Now STEM course is used to create a statistically similar comparison group, who did not participate in College Now, from a pool of approximately 250,000 NYCDOE students. Since students are not randomly assigned to participate in College Now, PSM allows for the construction of a comparison group with no significant observable differences from the treatment group, thereby reducing bias (Rosenbaum & Rubin, 1983). Using CUNY administrative data, this paper analyzes trends in college application, matriculation, STEM course enrollment, college major selection, and degree completion for students who participated in a College Now STEM course compared to those who did not.

As new policies continue to target the subject of STEM education, we remain unable to sufficiently explain the barriers to persistence that students encounter during periods of transition. A greater understanding of these periods – especially the transition from high school to college – is necessary in order to most effectively improve the process of engaging and educating STEM students in the United States.