Retention of Female Minority Students in Bachelor STEM Degree Programs: An Exploratory Study of Five Cohorts

Minority female students are under-represented in computer-related fields such as computer science, information systems, and computer engineering. Yet, minority female students are also under-represented in computer-related degree programs (Botella et al. 2019). This group of students faces unique challenges that can discourage them from continuing with a computer-related degree (Varma 2003). These challenges include a lack of writing and degree readiness skills such as mathematical and computational thinking skills (Varma 2003). Minority female students are also faced with economic challenges and family commitments which can hinder or discourage them from continuing in a degree program (Varma 2003). In addition, minority females lack female role models in academics and industry. They are influenced by the stereotypical belief that white males dominate the computer field and that certain groups do not belong in the computer field (Asai 2020). These prejudices and stereotypes can be reinforced in the home, and as a result, many minority females are not encouraged or supported to pursue or to continue in computer-related degree programs (Botella et al. 2019). The effects of these challenges are seen in the Computer Systems Technology Bachelor Degree Program of a major technical college in New York City. In this program, minority females make up a very small percentage of the overall students. In addition, compared to the white male students and the non-minority female students in the same program, the minority female students are far more likely to leave the program without graduating. This study aims to analyze retention data for minority female students (Hispanic, African American, Native American, Pacific Islander) in the Computer Systems Technology Bachelor Degree Program of a major technical college in New York City. The data gathered is from five consecutive cohort years (2014-2018) and is compared and contrasted to retention data for male and non-minority female students in the same degree program and the same five consecutive cohort years. Study findings emphasize the breadth and width of the retention narrative for these minority female students. The study, the first in a series of studies, identifies a roadmap for retention improvement and an implementation plan for supportive actions to increase retention of minority female students in the Computer Systems Technology Bachelor Degree Program

A Support Program For Introductory CS Courses That Improves Student Performance And Retains Students From Underrepresented Groups

In line with institutions across the United States, the Computer Science Department at Swarthmore College has faced the challenge of maintaining a demographic composition of students that matches the student body as a whole. To combat this trend, our department has made a concerted effort to revamp our introductory course sequence to both attract and retain more women and minority students. The focus of this paper is the changes instituted in our Introduction to Computer Science course (i.e., CS1) intended for both majors and non-majors. In addition to changing the content of the course, we introduced a new student mentoring program that is managed by a full-time coordinator and consists of undergraduate students who have recently completed the course. This paper describes these efforts in detail, including the extension of these changes to our CS2 course and the associated costs required to maintain these efforts. We measure the impact of these changes by tracking student enrollment and performance over 13 academic years. We show that, unlike national trends, enrollment from underrepresented groups has increased dramatically over this time period. Additionally, we show that the student mentoring program has increased both performance and retention of students, particularly from underrepresented groups, at statistically significant levels

A Transcendental Phenomenological Inquiry of First-Generation Community College Students’ Experiences

In the United States, 36% of community college enrollments are comprised of first-generation students (FGCS); however, little is known about FGCS as a cohort. Various initiatives have been formulated to encourage success among students with constraints related to social capital, bandwidth recovery, and the education system. The purpose of this phenomenological study aimed to understand the experiences of FGCS in community colleges in the Northeast region of the United States. FGCS are defined as students whose parents did not graduate from college with at least a bachelor’s degree. This study addressed student experiences—including social interactions—that impacted academic achievement positively or negatively. Tinto’s interactionalist theory of college student departure guided this study because student retention and success in college are affected by formal and informal interactions. Data were collected from 15 participants using one-on-one interviews, a writing prompt, and a focus group discussion. Data analysis was conducted using Moustakas’ guidelines for organizing and analyzing transcendental phenomenology. The four main themes identified were a) shared experiences, b) defining success, c) protective factors, and d) social factors