Barriers and Opportunities in Completing Two- and Four-Year STEM Degrees

国家研究理事会(NRC)科学教育委员会与高等教育和劳动力委员会、教师咨询委员会和国家工程院合作，请求支持开展一项研究，以了解完成两年制和四年制STEM学位的障碍和克服这些障碍的机会。这项研究将探索动机、兴趣和态度在塑造STEM本科生发展轨迹中的作用，特别是在从两年制院校向四年制院校的过渡中。它将特别关注影响不同学生决定留在或离开STEM专业的教学质量以外的因素，如评分政策、课程顺序、本科学习和生活环境、学生在科学方面的一般自我效能和自我效能、高中准备、家庭背景、职业和生活抱负以及对STEM职业的了解。这项研究将建立在NRC相关工作的基础上，包括最近关于不断发展的STEM教育格局中的社区大学的峰会，关于扩大代表不足的少数群体参与的研究：十字路口的美国科技人才，以及正在进行的基于学科的教育研究。

The National Research Council (NRC) Board on Science Education, in collaboration with the Board on Higher Education and Workforce, the Teacher Advisory Council, and the National Academy of Engineering, requests support for a study to understand the barriers to completion of two- and four-year STEM degrees and opportunities for overcoming these barriers. The study will explore the role of motivation, interest and attitude in shaping undergraduates' trajectories in STEM, especially in the transition from two-year to four-year institutions. It will give special attention to factors beyond the quality of instruction that influence diverse students' decisions to stay in or leave STEM majors' such as grading policies, course sequences, undergraduate learning and living environments, students' general self-efficacy and self-efficacy in science, high school preparation, family background, career and life aspirations, and knowledge of STEM careers. The study will build on related NRC work, including the recent summit on community colleges in the evolving STEM education landscape, the study of Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads and the ongoing study of Discipline-Based Education Research.