John T. Almarode

Out-of-School Time Science Activities and Their Association with Career Interest in STEM

Spurred by concerns about an inadequately sized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce, there has been a growing interest in out-of-school time (OST) science activities as a means to foster STEM career interest. This study examines the association between OST science activities and STEM career interest in university through a logistic regression model and the calculation of prototypical odds ratios. The analysis addresses two main research questions: What is the correlation among different forms of OST activities? And, controlling for student demographic and background variables, what specific forms of OST activities are associated with STEM career interest in university? The study uses data from the ‘Persistence Research in Science and Engineering’ survey (n = 6882), which employs a nationally representative sample of university students enrolled in introductory English courses. Results indicate that students’ participation in OST activities, as well as their middle school interest in science and mathematics and their gender, plays a significant role in university career interest in STEM. Conclusions suggest that making OST clubs and competitions and the inclusion of non-fiction and science fiction within English Language Arts programmes may be beneficial to the development of students in STEM careers. Limitations include the paucity of research examining which students participate in these activities and what specific features or characteristics benefit them.

Specialized Public High Schools of Science, Mathematics, and Technology and the STEM Pipeline: What Do We Know Now and What Will We Know in 5 Years?

Specialized public high schools of science, mathematics, and technology are commonly viewed as the “crown jewel” of their respective school districts and, many times, of their respective states. These schools are intended to coalesce the most academically talented, science-focused students in each district or state and typically draw excellent teachers as well. As the nation considers policies to address Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education issues, options for additional functions are likely to arise. Currently no existing studies provide a comprehensive analysis of the contribution these schools make over and above regular high schools to the STEM pipeline. This article presents the extant literature on variables that have been shown to predict participation in STEM careers on the part of adolescents in and out of specialized high schools. The literature review is followed by a description of a recently embarked 3-year National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored study designed to answer the following questions: Are specialized STEM high-school graduates more likely to remain in the STEM pipeline than students with similar achievement and interests who attended regular public high schools? Which educational/instructional practices used by specialized STEM high schools are associated with higher STEM pipeline retention rates in college and higher rates of entrance into STEM-related professions?

Specialized High Schools and Talent Search Programs: Incubators for Adolescents with High Ability in STEM Disciplines.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between self-efficacy and maintenance of interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) resulting in completion of an undergraduate degree in a science related area. To pursue this analysis, the researchers surveyed 3,510 graduates from selective specialized science high schools within the United States as well as 603 same age participants in Talent Search programs who did not graduate from a specialized science high school. Using binary logistic regression analysis, the researchers identified individual-level variables associated with the decision by both groups of high-ability adolescents to earn an undergraduate degree in STEM. These variables include self-efficacy and stability of interest in science, mathematics, and/or technology, and suggest that both specialized science high schools and Talent Search programs both serve equally well as incubators of talent for adolescents with a proclivity for STEM related disciplines.

STEM Schools as Incubators of Talent Development.

in recent years, specialized schools have become far more visible in the public domain, and with that visibility comes a responsibility to share what such schools provide for their students and to the education community (see National Research Council, 2011). The editors of this issue elicited responses from a set of authors representing five different models of selective science high schools to a number of prompts that ascertain the contributions specialized high schools make and could make in the future to the development of academic talent. These prompts asked authors to describe the following:

What Works: Lessons From a Research Study of Specialized Science High School Graduates.

The overall goal of the study was to delineate educational and career aftereffects of the long-held aims behind the formation of specialized science high schools and to provide insight into the educational practices that appear to be most strongly associated with these ideal outcomes.