STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields are in high demand for qualified personnel worldwide, yet drop-out rates of a career path in STEM occur at various points in lifespan. Based on a big-data analysis of 534,590 records retrieved from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics for several points in time over one and a half…

Every year millions of students travel to other countries to pursue their dreams of becoming skilled and knowledgeable professionals with expertise. However, they have to face some challenges and difficulties during studying abroad. The current study aimed to examine and identify the academic problems faced by foreign postgraduates while studying…

Educating elementary and secondary youth and engaging them in STEM subjects is the foundation for developing STEM talent and ensuring that the United States fulfills NSB's vision. The indicators in this report provide insight into U.S. progress in reaching these goals and the substantial impact that the learning disruptions due to the COVID-19…

Online courses at the college level are growing in popularity, and nearly all community colleges offer online courses (Allen and Seaman in "Tracking online education in the United States," Babson Survey Research Group, Babson Park, 2015). What is the effect of the expanded availability of online curricula on persistence in the field and…

Applying Organizational Routines Theory, this study aims to better understand the relations between high school tracking routine and student choice. Looking for the internal structure of the routine we used multi-case study approaches in four large comprehensive and successful high schools. The findings show that while the routine's name includes…

Math and science motivational beliefs are essential in understanding students' science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) achievement and choices in high school and college. Drawing on the Eccles' expectancy-value theory and Arnett's emerging adulthood framework, this study examined the relations among high school students' motivational…

A central challenge of introductory statistics is the development of curricula that not only serve diverse students, but also leave them wanting more. To evaluate the potential impact of a multidisciplinary, project-based introductory statistics course, students' future course decisions were compared against traditional statistics courses using…

Research generally finds that college students are more likely to complete a program of study if they choose a major that aligns with their interests and goals. Yet many new community college students do not have clear goals. Nearly 40% of community college students report being undecided about their major at the end of their first year (authors'…

Community colleges play a critical role in providing access to higher education for over two million Californians seeking an educational foundation that will prepare them to transfer to a four-year university or to participate in the workforce. However, community colleges have not always delivered on that promise--fewer than half of students who…

A substantial share of students studying in a face-to-face setting supplement their coursework with online courses, yet we have a limited understanding of online course-taking behavior. This study advances knowledge in this domain by examining an administrative dataset from the Pennsylvania State University. The detailed nature of our data allows…

The purpose of this study is to examine gender preferences that students may have in hypothetical professor selection by either profile picture or catalog listing. First, we showed picture profiles of male and female professors (while controlling for attractiveness and age) to student participants and asked them to select one or the other. Second,…

Community college transfer students encounter challenges progressing toward a bachelor's degree, leading to widespread transfer credit loss. This in turn may lower students' chances of credential completion and increase the time and costs for students, their families, and taxpayers. In this study we review three definitions of credit transfer…

Many theoretically based interventions have been developed over the past two decades to improve educational outcomes in higher education. Based in social-psychological and motivation theories, well-crafted interventions have proven remarkably effective because they target specific educational problems and the processes that underlie them. In this…

Since 1983, policymakers and politicians have worked to stave off a perceived decline in the academic preparation of American students. Stubbornly low scores on international exams and signs that many U.S. graduates are ill-equipped for college and the workforce have lent urgency to this perception, and many states have made high-school graduation…

Motivated by assessment of externally awarded grants and internal programmatic practices, we used transcript and demographic data for students entering a highly selective residential liberal arts college between 2002-2015 to answer institutional-level questions about course taking patterns and pathways relevant to Science, Technology, Engineering,…