Aligning Best Practices in Student Success and Career Preparedness: An Exploratory Study to Establish Pathways to STEM Careers for Undergraduate Minority Students

Undergraduate minority retention and graduation rates in STEM disciplines is a nationally recognized challenge for workforce growth and diversification. The Benjamin Banneker Scholars Program (BBSP) was a five-year undergraduate study developed to increase minority student retention and graduation rates at an HBCU. The program structure utilized a family model as a vehicle to orient students to the demands of college. Program activities integrated best K-12 practices and workforce skillsets to increase academic preparedness and career readiness. Findings revealed that a familial atmosphere improved academic performance, increased undergraduate research, and generated positive perceptions of faculty mentoring. Retention rates among BBSP participants averaged 88% compared to 39% among non-participant STEM peers. The BBSP graduation rate averaged 93% compared to 20% for non-participants. BBSP participants were more likely to gain employment in a STEM field or enter into a professional study. This paper furthers the body of research on STEM workforce diversity and presents a transferrable model for other institutions

Gender Differences in Academic Performance in a Large Public University in Turkey

The paper attempts to determine whether there are significant gender differences in academic performance among undergraduate students in a large public university in Turkey based on three indicators; university entrance scores, performance in the English preparatory school and in the program the student is majoring in. The paper finds that a smaller number of female students manage to enter the university and when they do so, they enter with lower scores. However, once they are admitted to the university, they excel in their studies and outperform their male counterparts. This result holds after controlling for the field of study and individual attributes.Academic achievement, undergraduate students, gender disparity, Turkey

Gender and self-selection among engineering students

Gender and graduation rates of first time engineering college students have been analyzed as a function of academic and demographic variables in order to investigate the hypothesis that an advantage to women with respect to student success might be attributed to their socioeconomic advantages as a student population. The authors present descriptive, graphical, and model-based evidence to support their ideas about gender and self-selection driven by socioeconomic phenomena that leave a disproportionate number of women out of higher education, but create a group of female students more likely than their male counterparts to succeed

The Efficiency of Private Universities As Measured By Graduation Rates

It is well known that human capital is enhanced by graduation from a college or university. How efficient are such institutions in conveying this mark of human capital? Efficiency and productivity in private higher education is measured by using undergraduate graduation rates as the output, and demographic variables, the quality of the students, and the annual expenditures (adjusted for academic mission) as inputs. Tests of several models using OLS and stochastic frontier analysis confirm that private schools can increase their graduation rates by increasing focused expenditures and through more selective admissions. Estimated elasticities are reported and point toward increasing expenditures as the most responsive method. Estimate graduation efficiencies of 93.0, 91.5, and near 100% are also reported for four, five and six year graduation rates respectively. A rank correlation with the U S News and World Report 2008 rankings is consistent with our measure of relative efficiencies

Who Succeeds in STEM Studies? An Analysis of Binghamton University Undergraduate Students

Using student level data, the characteristics of STEM and Non-STEM students are examined for attributes associated with academic success. We use fixed effects models to analyze the variables’ role in attaining graduation and college GPA and find preparation and ability, as evidenced by Advanced Placement course work, mathematical ability, gender, ethnicity, high school GPA and college experience are all statistically significant indicators of success. These attributes may confer a comparative advantage to STEM students. The engineers have statistically significant differing response elasticities than the non-engineers, and show evidence of persistence that may arise from learning-by-doing. A successful engineering STEM major at Binghamton has good mathematics preparation, and disproportionately is of Asian ethnicity. Women are few in numbers as engineers. Other STEM fields see less emphasis on mathematics preparation, but more emphasis on the presence of AP course work. Women have the same presence in these other STEM fields as in the whole university