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Bryce E. Hughes, Juan C. Garibay, Sylvia Hurtado , & Kevin Eagan UCLA

Examining the Tracks that C ause Derailment: Institutional Contexts and Engineering Degree Attainments. Bryce E. Hughes, Juan C. Garibay, Sylvia Hurtado , & Kevin Eagan UCLA American Educational Research Association San Francisco, CA May 1, 2013. A National Imperative.

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Bryce E. Hughes, Juan C. Garibay, Sylvia Hurtado , & Kevin Eagan UCLA

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  1. Examining the Tracks that Cause Derailment: Institutional Contexts and Engineering Degree Attainments Bryce E. Hughes, Juan C. Garibay, Sylvia Hurtado, & Kevin Eagan UCLA American Educational Research Association San Francisco, CA May 1, 2013

  2. A National Imperative • National Academy of Engineering (2011) report Lifelong Learning Imperative in Engineering • Wave of retirements • “U.S. has one of the lowest rates of graduation of bachelor level engineers in the world: only 4.5% of our university graduates are engineers” (p. ix). • Tremendous infrastructural and environmental challenges • Despite its national import, much is still unknown about the factors that influence engineering completion

  3. Research on Engineering Success • Student characteristics and precollege experiences • Self-efficacy • Academic preparation • Knowledge of and exposure to engineering (from parents and others) • Aspirations and commitment to an engineering career • Classroom experiences • Teacher-centered practices: • Lectures, grading on a curve, individual-based work • Student-centered pedagogy: • Active learning strategies, collaborative work, design- and problem-based learning

  4. Institutional Contexts Matter • Practices and Programs in Engineering (ASEE, 2012): • Internships and cooperative experiences • Research opportunities • Retention programs for URMs • Financial assistance • Institutional Contexts (For STEM students) • Size, selectivity, private, and Minority-Serving Institutions • Peer normative context • Previous research models on engineering student success have yet to account for these contexts

  5. Purpose • To identify institutional contexts that contribute to engineering degree completion within five years of college entry. • Identify contexts that “derail” engineering aspirants from the engineering track and improve the use of “evidence-based” approaches

  6. Methodology • Longitudinal Data on Engineering Aspirants • Data Sources: • 2004 Freshman Survey • Completion data from National Student Clearinghouse • 2007 & 2010 HERI Faculty Survey • STEM Best Practices Survey – administered to STEM deans and department chairs at our participating campuses • IPEDS • Sample: 15,913 first-time, full-time engineering aspirants across 270 institutions • Analysis: Multinomial HGLM (HLM software)

  7. Variables • Dependent Variable (measured five years after college entry): • Engineering completion compared to: • Bachelor’s completion in non-engineering field • No bachelor’s degree completion-includes students still enrolled (major not known)

  8. Variables • Independent variables • Background characteristics • Pre-college preparation and experiences • Aspirations and expectations • Intended major • Aggregate peer effects • Institutional characteristics • Faculty contextual measures • Best practices in STEM

  9. Descriptive Statistics

  10. Key Findings for Five-Year Completers:Engineering versus Non-Engineering

  11. Key Findings for Five Year Engineering Completion versus No Completion

  12. Changes from five-year to six-year model

  13. Discussion • Institutional context matters • Driven by mission, affects college’s level of resources • Minority-serving institutions continue to meet a crucial need • Faculty efforts can aggregate into cultural influences on student outcomes • Disaggregating by engineering field informs how differences in culture and coursework affect student outcomes • Students may also “go pro” early in some fields

  14. Implications • Individual colleges are uniquely positioned to graduate engineers • Understanding this position better informs practice and policy • Future research should address the influence of context for community college and transfer students • Parsing out micro-, meso-, and macrolevel institutional influences provides a more complete picture of an institution’s degree productivity • Degree completion is influenced by institutional mission as well as department-level differences

  15. Questions?

  16. Contact us Faculty/Co-PIs: Sylvia Hurtado Mitchell Chang Kevin Eagan Administrative Staff: Dominique Harrison Postdoctoral Scholars: Josephine Gasiewski Graduate Research Assistants: Tanya Figueroa Gina Garcia Juan Garibay Bryce Hughes Papers and reports are available for download from project website: http://heri.ucla.edu/nih Project e-mail: herinih@ucla.edu This study was made possible by the support of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH Grant Numbers 1 R01 GMO71968-01 and R01 GMO71968-05, the National Science Foundation, NSF Grant Number 0757076, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH Grant 1RC1GM090776-01. This independent research and the views expressed here do not indicate endorsement by the sponsors.

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