发展与教育及6年制学位完成之间的关联：STEM和非STEM专业的比较

The Association Between DevelopmentalEducation and 6-Year Degree Completion: AComparison of STEM and Non-STEM Majors Edgar I. Sanchez Introduction Degree completion is an ever-growing concern for students, policymakers, educators, andresearchers. For students, completing a degree within 6 years is often seen as a marker ofsuccess, but in reality, many students struggle to meet this 6-year time frame (Shapiro et al.,2017). Developmental education courses have been designed to support underpreparedstudents. These courses attempt to bridge the gap in academic knowledge among students whoenter postsecondary education underprepared for college-level coursework. The effectivenessof these programs, however, particularly in terms of promoting degree attainment, remains anissue of debate. Some studies suggest that developmental courses improve student outcomessuch as persistence (Bettinger & Long, 2009), while other studies suggest that these coursesmay delay or even hinder progress toward degree completion (Bailey et al., 2010). The difficulties associated with developmental education may be particularly pronounced amongscience, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. STEM majors are knownfor requiring rigorous coursework and having high levels of attrition (Chen, 2013). As opposed tonon-STEM majors, where students have greater flexibility in selecting their course sequencing,STEM majors often have rigid, prerequisite-heavy course sequences that could requiredevelopmental work. Taking developmental courses can delay the beginning of a student’smajor coursework and lead to students dropping out or delaying the completion of their degrees.A better understanding of whether developmental education affects 6-year degree completiondifferently for STEM versus non-STEM majors is important for informing academic policy. As mentioned, there are mixed findings about developmental courses in the literature, and whileprevious research has explored overall degree completion among students with developmentaleducation (Valentine et al., 2017), fewer studies have specifically looked at whether thesecourses disproportionately affect students from certain majors. Therefore, in the present study Iseek to clarify the impact of developmental courses on students’ completion of a baccalaureatedegree within 6 years, with a specific focus on the differences between STEM and non-STEMmajors. In addition, I look at demographic factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, and familyincome to explore how these characteristics may moderate this relationship. This study has implications for higher education policy as well as institutional decision-making. Ifit is found that developmental courses have different effects on STEM and non-STEM majors,postsecondary institutions may need to reconsider the structure and placement of these coursesin these degree programs. Additionally, the identification of demographic moderators can help institutions design targeted support strategies to address the needs of a diverse studentpopulation. This will help institutions develop policies to improve degree completion rates whilesimultaneously striving to ensure students receive needed support. This study is guided by the following research questions: 1.What is the association between developmental courses and degree completion by Year6 for students in STEM versus non-STEM fields?2.Do demographic factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, and family income moderate therelationship between developmental courses and 6-year degree completion in STEMand non-STEM fields? Method The sample for the study included 10,229 students from a southern state who graduated in theclass of 2021. This state had a statewide contract with ACT wherein most students took theACT before graduating. Among these students, most were White, were female, had not takenany developmental courses, and were non-STEM majors at the end of their first year of college.See Table 1 for summary statistics characterizing the sample. In this table, we can seeimportant differences between the group of students who took at least one developmentalcourse and the group who did not. There were substantially more African American students inthe developmental education group than in the non–developmental education group. Therewere also more students from families with an income of less than $36,000, as well as morefemale students. There were fewer students who persisted to the second year, more non-STEMmajors, and fewer students completing a baccalaureate degree. The developmental educationgroup also had notably lower high school GPAs (HSGPA), ACT Composite (ACTC) scores, andfirst-year college GPAs (FYGPA). Measures ACT Composite Score The official ACTC scores were collected from the final ACT test administration that studentscompleted before graduating high school. These scores were obtained either through statewideschool-day testing or during a national test administration. Cumulative HSGPA