GSE: Working Class Women using Community College Pathways to Four Year STEM Degrees

来自工薪阶层家庭的非洲裔和拉丁裔女性学生在科学和技术领域，特别是计算机科学和工程领域的代表性严重不足。由于超过50%的第一代低收入拉丁裔和非裔美国女性将两年制大学作为四年制学位的起点，真正完成这条道路的人很少，因此需要进行研究，以更好地了解这条道路以及这条道路上不同种族的工薪阶层女性的经历。本研究采用混合方法进行短期纵向序贯设计。两组人在15个月的时间内被跟踪：1)75名社区学院学生被接受转学到4年制大学攻读STEM学位，2)75名新近毕业的高中毕业生首次进入社区大学。数据来源包括组织层面的民族志访谈，以及在家庭、大学和工作场所背景下对关键成人支持者的访谈，个人访谈，以及对指导、文化资本和程序知识的定量调查。增长曲线模型跟踪文化资本和长期的指导，定性数据被用来确定在个人和组织层面上影响参与者持久性的关键因素。深入的案例研究增加了对获得和维持指导和相关资本的过程的理解，以及这三个主要背景如何在工薪阶层学生的生活中相互协调发挥作用。智力价值：在四年制的大专阶段，有大量的研究对学生进行检查？在攻读四年制大学学位的同时，他们决定放弃科学和技术领域。尽管过去的这项研究为考察留存情况提供了重要的基础，但这项研究对工薪阶层女性及其在社区大学四年制STEM学位过渡过程中的变异性提供了重要的新知识。鉴于工薪阶层女性S教育路径的复杂性，以及S领域对这一人群和社区大学STEM路径的研究不足，本研究为不同民族背景的工薪阶层女性持之以恒的影响因素提供了新的认识。更广泛的影响：这项研究的知识影响了工薪阶层妇女的留住，通过提供组织(学院和大学)战略帮助这些妇女追求STEM教育，留住了很大比例的有色人种学生。此外，该研究还包括几名女本科生，包括许多有色人种学生和第一代大学生，在一次研究经历中。社区学院和四年制学院之间现有的伙伴关系得到了促进和加强。传播包括开发一个供公立学校使用的网站、面向公众的报告、白皮书和期刊文章。

Female African American and Latino students from working class families are significantly underrepresented in science and technical fields, especially computer science and engineering. Since over fifty percent of first generation, lower-income income Latinos and African American women use two year colleges as an entry point to the four year degree, and so few actually complete that pathway, research is needed to better understand this pathway and the experience of ethnically diverse working class women within the pathway. This study uses a mixed methods short-term longitudinal sequential design. Two cohorts are followed over a 15 month time period: 1) 75 community college students accepted as transfers to 4-year colleges to pursue STEM degrees, and 2) 75 recent high school graduates entering community college for the first time. Data sources include ethnographic interviews at the organization level and with key adult supporters across contexts of home, college and workplace, individual interviews, and quantitative surveys of mentoring, cultural capital, and procedural knowledge. Growth curve models trace cultural capital and mentoring over time, and qualitative data are used to identify key factors that influence the persistence of the participants at an individual and organization level. In-depth case studies increase understanding about the process of acquiring and sustaining mentoring and related capital, and how these three major contexts function in concert with one another in the lives of working class students. Intellectual Merit: At the four year post-secondary level, there is a substantial body of research examining students? decisions to switch away from science and technology fields while pursuing their four-year college degrees. Although this past research has provided a critical foundation for examining retention, this study contributes significant new knowledge about working class women and the variability within their transitions along the community college pathway to the four year STEM degrees. Given the complexity of working class women?s educational pathways, and the field?s lack of research focused on this population and community college STEM pathways, this study offers new knowledge about the factors that contribute to persistence of working class women of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Broader Impacts: Knowledge from this study influences the retention of working class women, with a large proportion of students of color by offering organizations (colleges and universities) strategies to assist these women in their pursuit of STEM education. In addition, the study includes several female undergraduate students, including many students of color and first generation college students, in a research experience. Existing partnerships between community colleges and four year colleges are fostered and strengthened. Dissemination includes the development of a website for use in public schools, reports for public audiences, white papers, and journal articles.