Collaborative Research: Education Policy Studies-Empirical Research: Urban High School Opportunity Structures, Figured Worlds of STEM, and Choice of Major and College Destination

这种纵向的，实证的，合作研究的目的是确定扩大的“机会结构”在高中准备数学和科学对大学目的地的选择由非特权高中学生和他们的选择STEM专业的影响。在这项纵向研究中研究的学生最初将在两个地理位置不同的城市环境-布法罗，纽约州和丹佛，CO.样本中的学生的数学成绩在他们的班级中排名前20%，但有限的社会，经济和文化资本（例如，父母的教育结束时很少或根本没有上大学）。因为之前的工作已经发现，在好的大学入学和STEM专业的选择有很大的差异，在比较学生谁似乎来自可比高中的社会经济地位方面，这项研究将增加我们对潜在因素的理解。 此外，美国公立高中在AP、IB、磁石学校、课外活动、科学竞赛和其他丰富活动方面的广泛投资表明，对这些投资影响的更好理解可能对许多学区很有价值。先前的研究表明，科学和数学领域的机会结构扩大有助于提高大学入学率，包括精英大学。 但是，关于哪些类型的学生受到这种结构的帮助，以及这种结构如何影响学生选择学术专业，还没有足够的研究。 这项研究建立在广泛的先前的研究，包括那些采用人类学和社会学的指标，影响个人的看法和随后的决定，对学生的社会角色的调查。本研究以布迪厄的社会实践理论（1977年）和阿鲁姆、加莫兰和斯维特的教育扩张和分化理论（2007年）为理论支撑。对指导这项研究的研究问题的回答，预计将促进对学校结构的影响的理解，以扩大非社会和非文化资本化学生在科学和数学方面的教育机会。PI假设，当这种教育扩展的机会得到实施时，它们应该有助于减少与STEM追求和成果相关的不平等。

This longitudinal, empirical, collaborative research study seeks to identify the influence of expanded "opportunity structures" in high school for preparation in mathematics and science on choice of college destinations by non-privileged high school students and their selection of STEM majors. Students studied in this longitudinal study will initially be sophomores in two geographically different urban settings - Buffalo, NY and Denver, CO. The students in the sample have math grades that place in them in the top 20% of their class but have limited social, economic, and cultural capital (for example, parents whose education ended with little or no-college attendance). Because prior work has found that matriculation in good colleges and selection of STEM majors has varied widely in comparing students who seem to come from comparable high schools in terms of socioeconomic status, this study will add to our understanding of underlying factors. Also, the extensive investment across US Public high schools in AP, IB, magnet schools, after-school programs, science competitions, and other enrichment activities indicates that improved understanding of the impact of these investments would be likely to be valuable to many school districts.Prior research has shown that expanded opportunity structures in science and math facilitate greater college attendance, including at elite colleges. But there is not sufficient research on which types of students are helped by this and on how such structures influence student choice of academic major. This study builds upon extensive prior research including those that employed anthropological and sociological investigations of indicators that influence personal perceptions and subsequent decisions regarding students' roles in society. This study is grounded by theoretical support from Bourdieu's Theory of Social Practice (1977) and Arum, Gamoran, and Shavit's Theory of Educational Expansion and Differentiation (2007). Answers to the research questions guiding this study are expected to advance understanding of the impact of school structures to expand educational opportunities in science and math to non-socially and non-culturally capitalized students. The PIs hypothesize that when such opportunities for educational expansion are implemented they should contribute to the reduction of inequalities associated with STEM pursuits and outcomes.