Where Did Our STEM Majors Go? Novel Tools for Understanding Student Actions

Session Abstract: We know that only about half of the undergraduates in the United States who start as STEM majors finish with a STEM degree, but what happens to the remaining students? Data normally tracked by institutions can reveal when students leave STEM and flag indicators that presage leaving (such as performing poorly in a “gateway” course). However, these data points do not reveal what happens next to the students who leave STEM. Equally important, institutional data provide little insight into how STEM retention rates can be improved. Attend this session to learn how Stanislaus State developed new tools to better understand why students leave STEM, and then used the information provided by these tools to design programs that cut the STEM attrition rate in half. And yes, we will happily share our tools with you, so you can apply them at your institution.

Keywords: retention, belonging, STEM, surveys, psychosocial variables