{"id":239,"date":"2018-03-17T19:51:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T19:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/rootsofstem\/?page_id=239"},"modified":"2019-07-15T21:20:47","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T21:20:47","slug":"executive-summary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/rootsofstem\/executive-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Executive Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Executive Summary<\/h4>\n
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ROOTS of STEM Success<\/strong>:<\/h1>\n

Research on North Carolina Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics across the UNC System.<\/h4>\n
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\nElizabeth Stearns, Ph.D.
\nRoslyn Arlin Mickelson, Ph.D.
\nStephanie Moller, Ph.D.
\nMartha Cecilia Bottia, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

Department of Sociology UNC Charlotte
\n9201 University City Blvd. Charlotte, NC 28223<\/p>\n

Melissa Dancy, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

Physics Education Research Group UC Boulder
\nBoulder, CO<\/p>\n

DeeDee Allen, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

Wake Technical Community College Raleigh, NC<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Roots of STEM project has received support from the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 0969286 and 1420363. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Copies of research papers summarized in this document are available by request from the authors. Address all inquiries to elizabeth.stearns@uncc.edu<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The ROOTS of STEM Project is a multi-method study that investigates the individual, family, and institutional factors that influence students\u2019 decisions to pursue college science, technology, engineering, or mathematics majors at any of the 16 campuses in the University of North Carolina system. This project is particularly focused on identifying the various sources of the underrepresentation of women and certain underserved minority groups in STEM majors. The model below captures the interactive dynamics that our\u00a0project investigates.<\/p>\n

\"\"The study includes quantitative and qualitative data designed to test this conceptual\u00a0framework where underrepresentation of women and men in STEM fields is accounted for by student characteristics interacting with their experiences in secondary and post-secondary schools.<\/p>\n

We conduct this research in multiple phases. The first phase began in 2010 with the creation of a large longitudinal dataset (named the NC Roots of STEM 8-16) in cooperation with the UNC General Administration, NC Department of Public Instruction, the College Board, and Duke University\u2019s North Carolina Educational Research Data Center. This dataset follows members of North Carolina\u2019s entire 2004 public high school graduating class who enrolled at any campus in the UNC system in the fall of 2004. Administrative records for each person from middle school to high school and into their public university years provided the foundation for this dataset. In 2015, we added administrative records from students who had attended community college and then transferred to a campus of the UNC-system.<\/p>\n

Another phase of the project has involved interviews with students. In 2013, we interviewed 316 seniors enrolled in one of the 16 campuses of the UNC-system in order to better understand students\u2019 experiences with math and science in middle and high school and in college. Several years later, in 2015, we interviewed 200 students who were enrolled at NC community colleges, stated an interest in STEM fields, and planned to transfer to four-year colleges. In the fall of 2018, we conducted follow-up interviews with these transfer students, as well as with other students who have successfully transferred from community colleges to the four-year university system (but were not interviewed in 2015).<\/p>\n

Our study has generated important insights regarding the pathways that students take toward majoring in STEM fields before and after they matriculate to UNC campuses. In this Executive Summary we highlight only a few key findings. They are categorized into three sections: student characteristics and experiences, the role of the structural and cultural conditions in middle and high schools, and the role of structural and cultural conditions in universities. Below is a brief overview of these findings, followed by a selected bibliography.<\/p>\n

Student Characteristics and Experiences<\/strong><\/p>\n