A Longitudinal Study Predicting Postsecondary STEM Readiness Among Low-Income Minority Students

这项研究延续了一项纵向研究，该研究从学龄前学生开始，并将在一个大型城市学区跟踪他们进入高中，其中包括大量非洲裔美国学生和低收入家庭学生。这项研究是一个独特的机会，了解学生如何通过学校从学前班到高中结束。这个机会将研究他们如何准备干事业和他们对干的信念。他们通过学校的道路将特别关注数学学习和成就的联系。该项目将收集新的数据，以便与学生在小学和中学期间收集的数据建立联系。对教育研究，政策和实践的重要贡献将是了解数学知识的发展和学生整个preK-12经验的STEM职业准备。该项目由NSF的EHR核心研究（ECR）计划支持。ECR项目强调基础STEM教育研究，产生该领域的基础知识。该项目旨在确定成长轨迹和预测更多和更少成功的学生。这项工作继续研究约500低收入，主要是非洲裔美国学生谁一直遵循从学前班到8年级在一个大的城市学区。目标是（1）检查学生在高中数学成绩的增长以及与以前模式相关的高中增长，（2）确定数学成绩的预测因素和其他中学后准备指标，以及（3）描述低收入和少数民族学生对高中STEM职业的信念，包括他们的信念自中学以来如何变化。学生主要是非洲裔美国人（80%），超过90%有资格获得免费或减价午餐。在每一年的研究中，项目团队将对学生的数学知识进行单独评估，并收集ACT数学和科学成绩以及课程入学，成绩和期末考试成绩，毕业率以及学生高中毕业后上大学的意图的管理数据。在11年级的秋天，焦点小组与学生将询问他们的计划高中毕业后，他们对职业生涯的信念在干。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This study continues a longitudinal study that began with students in preschool and will follow them into high school in a large, urban school district including a large number of African-American students and low-income students. The study is a unique opportunity to learn about how the students go through school from preschool through the end of high school. This opportunity will examine how their readiness for STEM careers and their beliefs about STEM. Their path through school will particularly focus on the connections to mathematics learning and achievement. This project will collect new data to make connections to data collected during the students elementary and middle school years. An important contribution to educational research, policy, and practice will be understanding math knowledge development and readiness for STEM careers over students' entire preK-12 experience. This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field.The project is designed to identify growth trajectories and predictors of more and less successful students. This work continues a study of approximately 500 low-income, predominantly African-American students who have been followed from preschool through 8th grade in a large urban school district. The goals are to (1) examine students' growth in math achievement across high school and related high school growth to previous patterns, (2) identify predictors of math achievement and other indicators of postsecondary readiness, and (3) describe low-income and minority students' beliefs about careers in STEM in high school, including how their beliefs have changed since middle school. The students are predominantly African American (80%) and over 90% eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. In each year of the study, the project team will conduct individual student assessments of math knowledge and collect administrative data on ACT math and science scores as well as course enrollment, grades and end-of-course exam scores, graduation rates, and students' intent to attend college after high school. During the fall of eleventh grade, focus groups with students will ask about their plans after high school and their beliefs about careers in STEM. Similar focus groups were conducted with the students in eighth grade.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.