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Background: Retaining women and racially minoritized individuals in engineering programs has been a subject of widespread discussion and investigation. While the sense of belonging and its link to retention have been studied based on student characteristics, there is an absence of studies investigating the importance of students' social identities to their sense of belonging in engineering. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study examines differences in race/ethnic identity centrality, gender identity centrality, and sense of belonging in engineering by subgroups of undergraduate engineering students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Subsequently, it examines the extent to which these identity centralities predict a sense of belonging in engineering for each subgroup. Design/Method: Survey data was collected from 903 Latinx and 452 White undergraduate engineering students from seven HSIs across the continental United States. Multivariate analysis of variance and sequential multivariate linear regression were used to evaluate the research questions. Results: Latinx students had higher identity centralities but a similar sense of belonging in the engineering community as White students. Latinos and Latinas had an equivalent sense of belonging in engineering, whereas White women were higher than White men. In the full models, race/ethnic identity centrality significantly, and positively predicted a sense of belonging in engineering for Latinos and White women. Gender identity centrality was not a significant predictor of a sense of belonging in engineering for either Latinx or White students. Conclusions: Race/ethnic and gender identity centrality are differentially important to the sense of belonging in engineering for students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions based on their group membership at the intersection of race and gender.

Young women remain underrepresented among engineering bachelor's degree holders. While there is a relatively large body of extant research on the many factors that curtail young women's interest in pursuing engineering, less is known about high school girls who are on an engineering pathway. Therefore, this study focuses on a select group of precollege young women who express a strong interest in engineering. Specifically, informed by theories of gender as a social system and previous empirical research, this mixed-methods study explores the constellation of significant actors within the daily lives of these young women, to understand from whom and how they are supported in pursuing this gender-atypical field, and simultaneously, from whom and how they are discouraged. To do so, the researchers analyzed survey and interview data from a sample of diverse high school girls who participate in the Society of Women Engineers' (SWE) SWENext programme. Quantitative results indicate that young women report high levels of encouragement from most sources, including parents, teachers, and other young women. However, across various peer contexts, they receive much more support from other young women than from young men. Qualitative results further reveal that parents and teachers stand out in young women's recollections of encouragement, often through advocating their participation in engineering activities or providing mentoring support. In contrast, young men in engineering spaces were recalled as particularly discouraging of their engineering participation, by socially or physically excluding them or refusing to provide recognition. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Quantum computing was once regarded as a mere theoretical possibility, but recent advances in engineering and materials science have brought practical quantum computers closer to reality. Currently, representatives from industry, academia, and governments across the world are working to build the educational structures needed to produce the quantum workforce of the future. Less attention has been paid to growing quantum computing capacity at the high school level. This article details work at The University of Texas at Austin to develop and pilot the first full-year high school quantum computing class. Over the course of two years, researchers and practitioners involved with the project learned several pedagogical and practical lessons that can be helpful for quantum computing course design and implementation at the secondary level. In particular, we find that the use of classical optics provides a clear and accessible avenue for representing quantum states and gate operators and facilitates both learning and the transfer of knowledge to other Science, Technology, and Engineering (STEM) skills. Furthermore, students found that exploring quantum optical phenomena prior to the introduction of mathematical models helped in the understanding and mastery of the material.

Utilizing a nationally representative sample of middle school students, this article focuses on whether students who report experiencing more inquiry-based instruction in science and mathematics classrooms have more positive attitudes toward these subjects. Results of multilevel, multivariate regression analyses revealed that, net of the inclusion of control variables for student, teacher, and school characteristics, a higher frequency of inquiry-based instruction is significantly associated with greater interest, perceptions of utility, and self-efficacy for science and mathematics. Furthermore, although there is some evidence indicating that compared with female students, male students' perceptions of science utility are higher in relation to more inquiry-based instruction, overall, the weight of evidence clearly leans toward the conclusion that the attitudes of students from different gender and racial/ethnic backgrounds are similarly associated with greater exposure to inquiry-based instruction in both their science and mathematics classrooms.

Utilizing the High School Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school students, this study investigates the factors that predict different beliefs about gendered math ability and the potential consequences for students' choices to enter gender-segregated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors in college. Among other results, analyses reveal that while about 25 percent of students report a traditionally stereotypical belief in male superiority, about 20 percent report a counter-stereotypical belief in female superiority; among female students, such beliefs are more common among black students. Further, models reveal a robust association between holding counter-stereotypical beliefs and the likelihood that women choose biological science majors, which are female dominated, compared to non-STEM fields. Among men, holding counter-stereotypical beliefs is associated with a lower likelihood of majoring in physical science, computer science, math, and engineering fields, which are strongly male dominated, versus non-STEM fields. Implications for gender inequality in STEM fields are discussed.

Background: Despite the diverse student population in the USA, the labor force in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) does not reflect this reality. While restrictive messages about who belongs in STEM likely discourage students, particularly female and minoritized students, from entering these fields, extant research on this topic is typically focused on the negative impact of stereotypes regarding math ability, or the existence of stereotypes about the physical appearance of scientists. Instead, this study builds on the limited body of research that captures a more comprehensive picture of students' views of scientists, including not only the type of work that they do but also the things that interest them. Specifically, utilizing a sample of approximately 1000 Black and Latinx adolescents, the study employs an intersectional lens to examine whether the prevalence of counter-stereotypical views of scientists, and the association such views have on subsequent intentions to pursue STEM college majors, varies among students from different gender and racial/ethnic groups (e.g., Black female students, Latinx male students). Results: While about half of Black and Latinx students reported holding counter-stereotypical beliefs about scientists, this is significantly more common among female students of color, and among Black female students in particular. Results from logistic regression models indicate that, net of control variables, holding counter-stereotypical beliefs about scientists predicts both young men's and women's intentions to major in computer science and engineering, but not intentions to major in either physical science or mathematics. Additionally, among Black and Latinx male students, counter-stereotypical perceptions of scientists are related to a higher likelihood of intending to major in biological sciences. Conclusions: The results support the use of an intersectional approach to consider how counter-stereotypical beliefs about scientists differ across gender and racial/ethnic groups. Importantly, the results also suggest that among Black and Latinx youth, for both female and male students, holding counter-stereotypical beliefs promotes intentions to enter particular STEM fields in which they are severely underrepresented. Implications of these findings and directions for future research, specifically focusing on minoritized students, which are often left out in this body of literature, are discussed.

This brief utilizes data from the U.S. Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study of 2011 (TIMSS) to investigate the extent to which teacher reports of content coverage in eighth grade algebra classes vary according to school racial/ethnic composition. The analytic sample is comprised of eighth grade algebra classrooms in 111 schools across the country, with 9 schools that are predominantly Black, 20 schools that are predominantly Latinx, and 82 schools that are not predominantly minority. Results of regression analyses reveal that, net of school, teacher, and student characteristics, the time that teachers report spending on algebra and more advanced content in eighth grade algebra classes is significantly lower in schools that are predominantly Black compared to those that are not predominantly minority. Implications for future research are discussed.

Using data from a large urban district, this study investigated whether racial inequality in access to eighth-grade algebra is a reproduction of differences in prior opportunities to learn (as evidenced by grades, test scores, and level of prior mathematics course) or whether patterns reflect an increase in inequality such that racial differences in access remain when controlling for academic background. We considered how this varies by the racial composition of the school; further, we examined differences in access between both Black and Hispanic students and their White peers as well as differences between Black and Hispanic students. The results point to patterns of reproduction of inequality in racially integrated schools, with some evidence of increasing inequality in predominantly Hispanic schools.

Informed by the theoretical lens of opportunity hoarding, this study considers whether STEM postsecondary fields stand apart via the disproportionate exclusion of Black and Latina/o youth. Utilizing national data from the Beginning Postsecondary Study (BPS), the authors investigate whether Black and Latina/o youth who begin college as STEM majors are more likely to depart than their White peers, either by switching fields or by leaving college without a degree, and whether patterns of departure in STEM fields differ from those in non-STEM fields. Results reveal evidence of persistent racial/ethnic inequality in STEM degree attainment not found in other fields.

This paper examines gender inequality within the context of an upper-level high school engineering course recently offered in Texas. Data was collected from six high schools that serve students from a variety of backgrounds. Among the almost two hundred students who enrolled in this challenge-based engineering course, females constituted a clear minority, comprising only a total of 14% of students. Quantitative analyses of surveys administered at the beginning of the school year (Fall 2011) revealed statistically significant gender gaps in personal attitudes towards engineering and perceptions of engineering climate. Specifically, we found that compared to males, females reported lower interest in and intrinsic value for engineering, and expressed less confidence in their engineering skills. Additionally, female students felt that the classroom was less inclusive and viewed engineering occupations as less progressive. Gender disparities on all of these measures did not significantly decrease by the end of the school year (Spring 2012). Findings suggest that efforts to increase the representation of women in the engineering pipeline via increasing exposure in secondary education must contend not only with obstacles to recruiting high school girls into engineering courses, but must also work to remedy gender differences in engineering attitudes within the classroom.

Owing to their potential impact on students' cognitive and noncognitive outcomes, the negative attitudes toward science held by many elementary teachers are a critical issue that needs to be addressed. This study focuses on the science education of preservice elementary teachers with the goal of improving their attitudes "before" they begin their professional lives as classroom teachers. Specifically, this study builds on a small body of research to examine whether exposure to inquiry-based science content courses that actively involve students in the collaborative process of learning and discovery can promote a positive change in attitudes toward science across several different dimensions. To examine this issue, surveys and administrative data were collected from over 200 students enrolled in the "Hands on Science" (HoS) program for preservice teachers at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as more than 200 students in a comparison group enrolled in traditional lecture-style classes. Quantitative analyses reveal that after participating in HoS courses, preservice teachers significantly increased their scores on scales measuring confidence, enjoyment, anxiety, and perceptions of relevance, while those in the comparison group experienced a decline in favorable attitudes to science. These patterns offer empirical support for the attitudinal benefits of inquiry-based instruction and have implications for the future learning opportunities available to students at all education levels.

This article investigates the empirical basis for often-repeated arguments that gender differences in entrance into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors are largely explained by disparities in prior achievement. Analyses use data from three national cohorts of college matriculates across three decades to consider differences across several indicators of high school math and science achievement at the mean and also at the top of the test distribution. Analyses also examine the different comparative advantages men and women enjoy in math/science versus English/reading. Regardless of how prior achievement is measured, very little of the strong and persistent gender gap in physical science and engineering majors over time is explained. Findings highlight the limitations of theories focusing on gender differences in skills and suggest directions for future research. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables and 13 notes.)

Background: Retaining women and racially minoritized individuals in engineering programs has been a subject of widespread discussion and investigation. While the sense of belonging and its link to retention have been studied based on student characteristics, there is an absence of studies investigating the importance of students' social identities to their sense of belonging in engineering. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study examines differences in race/ethnic identity centrality, gender identity centrality, and sense of belonging in engineering by subgroups of undergraduate engineering students at Hispanic‐Serving Institutions (HSIs). Subsequently, it examines the extent to which these identity centralities predict a sense of belonging in engineering for each subgroup. Design/Method: Survey data was collected from 903 Latinx and 452 White undergraduate engineering students from seven HSIs across the continental United States. Multivariate analysis of variance and sequential multivariate linear regression were used to evaluate the research questions. Results: Latinx students had higher identity centralities but a similar sense of belonging in the engineering community as White students. Latinos and Latinas had an equivalent sense of belonging in engineering, whereas White women were higher than White men. In the full models, race/ethnic identity centrality significantly, and positively predicted a sense of belonging in engineering for Latinos and White women. Gender identity centrality was not a significant predictor of a sense of belonging in engineering for either Latinx or White students. Conclusions: Race/ethnic and gender identity centrality are differentially important to the sense of belonging in engineering for students at Hispanic‐Serving Institutions based on their group membership at the intersection of race and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilizes interviews with 33 racially diverse high school girls who have expressed interest in engineering careers. Using the framework of critical consciousness and informed by intersectional theories, the authors examine their views about gender inequality in engineering. Results revealed that while most articulated systemic understandings of inequality, Black participants were particularly likely to exhibit this critical reflection. Yet many young women revealed a more emerging form of critical reflection, particularly Asian participants. Few respondents expressed critical self-efficacy, or confidence to challenge gender inequality in their future careers; such views were almost exclusively held by Black and Latinx respondents. In contrast, White respondents commonly invoked a "lean-in" self-efficacy to be successful navigating, but not challenging, the White male-dominated engineering workforce. Overall, we find clear evidence that young women's racialized identities have implications not only for their understandings of gender inequality, but also for their motivation to disrupt it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study utilizes data from a national cohort of eighth-grade students to consider how different gender and racial/ethnic subgroups compare to White males in their likelihood to aspire toward a science or math occupation and examine the roles that self-concept, enjoyment, and achievement may play in shaping disparities at this early point in occupational trajectories. We find that the importance of enjoyment, self-concept, and achievement in explaining disparities in science career aspirations relative to White males varies according to the female subgroup considered, such that no singular story applies to females across different racial/ethnic backgrounds. For math, White and Hispanic females remain approximately half as likely as White males to aspire to a math occupation regardless of all indicators we consider. Finally, Black and Hispanic adolescent boys have generally comparable aspirations toward future careers in science and math as their White male peers, despite notably large differences in achievement. We discuss implications of our results for future research on equity. (Contains 3 tables, 1 figure, and 8 footnotes.)

The authors analyze national data on recent college matriculants to investigate gender and racial/ethnic disparities in STEM fields, with an eye toward the role of academic preparation and attitudes in shaping such disparities. Results indicate that physical science/engineering (PS/E) majors are dominated by men, but not, however, disproportionately by White men. After accounting for high school preparation, the odds of declaring a PS/E major are two times greater for Black males than for White males, and Black females are closer than White females to closing the gap with White males. The authors find virtually no evidence that math attitudes contribute to disparities in choice of a PS/E major. Finally, in contrast to PS/E fields, biological sciences draw relatively equitably from all groups. (Contains 6 notes, 1 table, and 3 figures.)

This study examines the female postsecondary advantage in matriculation among Hispanic and white youth with the goal of exploring whether social capital, in addition to academic performance and orientation, function similarly to help explain females' higher likelihood of college attendance for each group. Utilizing data from the Texas Higher Education Opportunity Project (THEOP), results indicate that girls' higher academic performance in high school is an important factor behind their subsequent gender advantage in 4-year college attendance, particularly for Hispanic students. Additionally, compared to their co-ethnic male peers, Hispanic and white girls have greater levels of social capital, such as more academically-focused friendship groups in high school, that are associated with higher rates of college attendance. However, girls' greater frequency of discussion with high school counselors about college appears to contribute to the female advantage in matriculation only for Hispanic students. For both groups, the analyses suggest that all of the factors considered explain substantially less of the female advantage in 2-year college matriculation than they do for the female advantage in 4-year matriculation. In general, the results underscore the need for more research considering the complex processes through which gender and race/ethnicity intersect in shaping individuals' paths to college.

Despite increases in the representation of African American and Hispanic youth in advanced math courses in high school over the past two decades, recent national reports indicate that substantial inequality in achievement remains. These inequalities can temper one's optimism about the degree to which the United States has made real progress toward educational equity. Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS), the authors find that the math achievement gap is most pronounced among those students who take the most demanding high school math classes, such as precalculus and calculus. The authors explore the roles of family socioeconomic status and school composition in explaining this pattern. Findings suggest that among those students reaching the advanced math high school stratum, Hispanic youth from low-income families and African American youth from segregated schools fare the worst in terms of closing the achievement gap with their white peers. The authors discuss potential explanations for the achievement differences observed and stress the need for more research that focuses explicitly on the factors that inhibit minority/majority parity at the top of the secondary curricular structure. (Contains 2 figures, 3 tables, and 14 notes.)

Background/Context: Brown v Board of Education fundamentally changed our nation's schools, yet we know surprisingly little about how and whether they provide equality of educational opportunity. Although substantial evidence suggests that African American and Latino students who attend these schools face fewer learning opportunities than their White counterparts, until now, it has been impossible to examine this using a representative sample because of lack of data. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study uses newly available data to investigate whether racially diverse high schools offer equality of educational opportunity to students from different racial and ethnic groups. This is examined by measuring the relative representation of minority students in advanced math classes at the beginning of high school and estimating whether and how this opportunity structure limits the level of achievement attained by African American and Latino students by the end of high school. Setting: This study uses data from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study (AHAA) and its partner study, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a stratified, nationally representative study of students in U.S. high schools first surveyed in 1994-1995. Population/Participants/Subjects: Two samples of racially diverse high schools were used in the analysis: one with African Americans, Whites, and Asians (26 schools with 3,149 students), and the other with Latinos, Whites, and Asians (22 schools with 2,775 students). Research Design: Quantitative analyses first assess how high schools vary in the extent to which minority students are underrepresented in advanced sophomore math classes. Hierarchical multilevel modeling is then used to estimate whether racial-ethnic differences in representation in advanced math have an impact on African American and Latino students' achievement by the end of high school, relative to the Whites and Asians in the school. Specifically, we estimate the effects of Whites' and Asians' overrepresentation in sophomore-year math (or Latino or African American underrepresentation) within the school on students' senior-year grades and their postsecondary enrollment. Findings/Results: Findings show that schools vary in the extent to which African American and Latino students are underrepresented in advanced sophomore math classes. This pattern of racial inequality in schools is associated with lower minority senior-year grades and enrollment in 4-year postsecondary institutions, net of students' own background. Conclusions/Recommendations. Evidence consistently suggests that schools can play an active role in the provision of opportunities for social mobility or in the exacerbation of social inequality, depending on how they are structured. It is important to consider racial stratification within schools as a mechanism of inequality of educational opportunity.

Girls have caught up with boys in math course taking in high school but reasons for taking math still differ by gender. This study, therefore, investigated gender differences in the linkage between peer relations and math course taking by applying multilevel modeling to a nationally representative data set that includes peer networks and school transcripts (N = 6,457 American 9th to 11th graders, aged 13-19). For all adolescents, math course taking was associated with the achievement of their close friends and, to a lesser extent, their coursemates. These associations tended to be stronger toward the end of high school and weaker among adolescents with a prior record of failure in school. Each of these patterns was somewhat more consistent among girls.

Working from a life course perspective, this study examined the paradoxical association between academic status and drinking across the transition to young adulthood with multilevel modeling and a nationally representative sample of young people from the Add Health data project (n = 6,308). Taking academically advanced courses in high school was associated with lower rates of current drinking and binge drinking during high school (grades 9-12) but higher rates of both after high school (age range: 20-26). This positive longitudinal association between academic status and drinking was explained partly, but not completely, by educational, family, and work circumstances in young adulthood. The association was less likely to occur among students who attended high schools in which high achievement was the norm. Thus, the association between academic status and drinking behavior reverses across the transition to young adulthood, especially in certain types of peer environments within the educational system. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study extends previous research on the social psychological implications of pubertal timing to education by applying a life course framework to data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study. Early pubertal timing, which has previously been associated with major social psychological changes in girls' lives during middle school, predicted girls' grade point average and probability of course failure at the start of high school. Because of this initial failure during the high school transition, it also predicted their probability of dropping out of high school, and, among those who graduated, their grade point average at the end of high school. Such research demonstrates one way in which the immediate social psychological risk of early pubertal timing, measured as the age at menarche, translates into long-term disadvantage for girls, thereby opening up new avenues of research for social psychologists interested in youth development, health, and education. (Contains 4 tables and 1 footnote.)

Using new national data from Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement (AHAA), this article examines high school math patterns for students of different race-ethnicity and gender. Compared with white males, African American and Latino males receive lower returns from taking Algebra I during their freshman year, reaching lower levels of the math course sequence when they begin in the same position. This pattern is not explained by academic performance, and, furthermore, African American males receive less benefit from high math grades. Lower returns are not observed for minority female students, suggesting that more attention to racial-ethnic inequality in math among male students is needed.

The linkage between family structure and adolescents' academic experiences is part of a larger, dynamic process unfolding over time. To investigate this phenomenon, this study drew on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study. Logistic regressions revealed that family structure at birth predicted students' academic status in math in the ninth grade, and multinomial regressions revealed that family instability, along with curricular location in the ninth grade, parenting behaviors, and adolescents' adjustment and aspirations, distinguished those who completed higher-level math by the end of high school from those who did not but still graduated from high school and from those who dropped out of high school.

This article examines the role of friends in girls' and boys' advanced course taking and explores whether friends' characteristics are particularly important for girls' math and science attainment. With the use of data from Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Heath, the results indicate that same-sex friends' academic performance significantly predicts course taking in all subjects for girls, but not for boys. Furthermore, for math and science only, the effects of friends' performance are greater in the context of a predominantly female friendship group, which suggests that such groups provide a counterpoint to the gendered stereotypes and identities of those subjects.

Presents an in-depth portrait of the training, careers, and work of recent Ph.D. physical scientists. Concludes that use of specialized training varies widely with about half often using knowledge of their Ph.D. specialty area in their jobs. The use of specialized training does not, however, correlate with job satisfaction. In this and other important measures, there are relatively few differences between "academics" and "nonacademics." (Author/MM)