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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]

This study utilizes interviews from 22 young female engineers from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds as they first entered the White and male-dominated engineering labor force with the goal of examining: (1) how these women endorsed a gender-blind frame that characterizes their workplaces as fundamentally meritocratic, and alternatively, (2) how they named gender as relevant or salient to experiences and interactions at work. Drawing on the insights of intersectional scholars to answer the previous questions, the study calls attention to how the invocation of these frames differed for women of color compared to their majority White female peers. Results revealed that most respondents strongly endorsed the idea that engineering workplaces are meritocratic and that their gender is not relevant. However, there is also evidence of racial divergence in the themes expressed. For example, some White women expressed a narrative contradictory to meritocracy, discussing their workplaces as like family, while in contrast, women of color often expressed uncomfortable experiences of standing out. Overall, the results suggest that female engineers' tendency to disavow, either explicitly or implicitly, that discrimination and bias occurs in their workplaces, likely contributes to continued gender and racial inequality; subsequently, programs and interventions to facilitate awareness of inequality are critically needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is well known that women have relatively high rates of attrition from STEM occupations in the United States, there is limited empirical research on the views and experiences of female STEM degree-earners that may underlie their commitment to their chosen fields. Utilizing survey data from 229 women completing STEM degrees at two U.S. universities, the present study examines how perceptions of occupational affordances and interactions with others in the field predict their occupational STEM commitment. Additionally, the study employs an intersectional lens to consider whether the patterns of association are different for Asian women and White women. Multivariate regression analyses reveal that although communal goal affordances do not significantly predict women's occupational STEM commitment, agentic goal affordances are a strong predictor of such commitment. Regarding experiences with others in the field, results reveal that classmate interactions are not associated with STEM commitment, whereas positive faculty interactions do significantly predict such commitment. However, further analyses reveal racial differences in these patterns because agentic goal affordances are much weaker predictors of occupational STEM commitment for Asian women than for White women, and results indicate that faculty interactions are significant predictors of STEM commitment only for White women. Thus, our results strongly suggest that the theoretical models of motivation and support that underlie much of the discussion around women in STEM do not similarly apply to women from all racial backgrounds and that more research is needed that considers how both gender and race simultaneously shape STEM engagement and persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study builds on research on the power of counter-stereotypical cues, as well as intergroup contact theory, to consider whether interactions with a female teacher and female peers in a high school engineering classroom decrease male students' gender/science, technology, engineering, and math stereotypical beliefs and whether this varies according to the initial strength of their stereotypical views. Analyses reveal that among male students who initially reject stereotypes of male superiority, more female peers in the classroom leads to a further decrease in their stereotypical views by the end of the year. In contrast, boys who held strong stereotypical beliefs became less stereotypical by the end of the course when they had a female teacher. Implications for future research and current educational reforms are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite efforts to increase participation in science, technology, engineering and math fields (STEM), the role of students' perceptions of the social relevance of science in guiding their expectations to major in STEM remains largely unexplored. Though science education scholars predict that perceptions of social relevance likely matter equally for boys and girls, gender scholars suggest that these perceptions should matter more for girls than boys. Using longitudinal data from a large, urban, low-income, and predominantly minority-serving district, this study examines the potentially gendered role of perceptions of social relevance in ninth graders' expectations to major in STEM. Further, it examines these dynamics with respect to expectations to major in any STEM field as well as expectations to major in specific STEM fields. Findings largely support the perspective of gender scholars; perceptions of the social relevance of science positively and significantly predict female, but not male, students' intentions to major in STEM (vs. non-STEM fields). Subsequent analyses that look at intentions to major in specific STEM fields reveal a similar pattern, such that perceptions of relevance positively predict female students' intentions to major in the biological sciences, the physical sciences, and engineering, while male students' intentions are not similarly impacted. By contrast, positive perceptions of the relevance of science predict a modest increase in interest in computer science for both boys and girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on prior theoretical and empirical research on gender segregation within educational fields as well as occupations, we examine the pathways of college students who at least initially embark on a gender-atypical path. Specifically, we explore whether women who enter fields that are male-dominated are more likely to switch fields than their female peers who have chosen other fields, as well as whether men who enter female-dominated majors are more likely to subsequently switch fields than their male peers who have chosen a more normative field. We utilize a sample of 3702 students from a nationally representative dataset on U.S. undergraduates, the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS 2004/09). Logistic regression models examine the likelihood that students switch majors, controlling for students' social and academic background. Results reveal different patterns for men and women. Men who enter a female-dominated major are significantly more likely to switch majors than their male peers in other majors. By contrast, women in male-dominated fields are not more likely to switch fields compared to their female peers in other fields. The results are robust to supplementary analyses that include alternative specifications of the independent and dependent variables. The implications of our findings for the maintenance of gendered occupational segregation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Objectives. We focus on variation in gender inequality in physics course-taking, questioning the notion of a ubiquitous male advantage. We consider how inequality in high school physics is related to the context of students' local communities, specifically the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations in the labor force. Methods. This study uses nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and its education component, the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Transcript Study. Results. Approximately half of schools are characterized by either gender equality or even a small female advantage in enrollment in this traditionally male subject. Furthermore, variation in the gender gap in physics is related to the percent of women who are employed in STEM occupations within the community. Conclusion. Our study suggests that communities differ in the extent to which traditionally gendered status expectations shape beliefs and behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [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. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 458-476, 2011 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We examine how the racial/ethnic and generational status composition of Latino students' friendship groups is related to their academic achievement and whether there are differential effects by gender. Methods. We use multivariate regression analyses to examine the effects of friends' characteristics on Latino students' end of high school grades, utilizing data from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study (AHAA), and its parent survey, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results. For Latina girls, there are positive effects of having more friendship ties to third-plus-generation Latino peers in contrast to dominant culture peers; yet Latino boys benefit academically from ties to all co-ethnic peers. Having friends with higher parental education promotes achievement of both genders. Conclusion. Our results counter notions of a pervasive negative peer influence of minority youth and suggest that co-ethnic ties are an important source of social capital for Latino students' achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increasing importance of education to socioeconomic attainment and other life course trajectories, early, academic struggles can have long-term consequences if not addressed. Analysis of a nationally representative sample with official school transcripts and extensive, data on adolescent functioning identified a social psychological pathway in this linkage between external feedback about early struggles and truncated educational trajectories. For girls, class failures absent of diagnosed learning disabilities engendered increasingly negative self-perceptions that, in turn, disrupted math and science course-taking, especially in family and peer contexts in which academic success was prioritized. For boys, diagnosed learning disabilities, regardless of class performance, enqendered the same changes in self-perception and the same consequences of these changes for course-taking across family and peer contexts. These results reveal how ability labels and ability-related performance indicators come together to influence the long-term educational prospects of girls and boys attending mainstream schools in which the majority of students do not have learning disabilities or severe academic problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the development of essentialist views about sex and gender and how high school biology textbooks may influence these views. Topics include the essentialist assumptions about sex and gender; the interaction between conceptual biases and sociocultural input in the development of essentialism; and the need for biology textbooks to accurately reflect scientific knowledge about sex and gender.

This study explores the association between sports participation and course taking in high school, specifically comparing subjects with varied gendered legacies—science and foreign language. Analyses of a nationally representative longitudinal sample ( N = 5,447) of U.S. adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the linked Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement transcript study show that male and female athletes are more likely than non-athletes to take both advanced foreign language and Physics, largely because of their higher academic orientation. However, the association between sports participation and course taking was strongest for girls’ Physics coursework, suggesting that sports may provide girls with a unique opportunity to develop the skills and confidence to persevere in the masculine domain of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an in-depth portrait of the training, careers, and work of recent Ph.D. physical scientists. 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." Important job skills for all employment sectors include writing; oral presentation, management, data analysis, designing projects, critical thinking, and working in an interdisciplinary context. Rankings given by respondents of graduate training in some of these skill areas were significantly lower than the importance of these skills in the workplace. We also found that the rated quality of graduate training varies relatively little by department or advisor. Finally, although nonacademic aspirations among graduate students are fairly common, these do not appear to be well supported while in graduate school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. We investigate how a student's social climate in school, specifically the percentage of coursemates whose parents are college educated, influences the likelihood of enrolling in a four-year college. Methods. Using Add Health and AHAA data, we employ hierarchical logistic regression models to analyze how the socioeconomic characteristics of coursemates influence four-year college enrollment. Results. We find evidence that taking courses with children of college-educated parents increases the likelihood of four-year college enrollment even after controlling for family background, achievement, and placement. Conclusion. We argue that the family background characteristics of coursemates may influence college enrollment because coursemates provide access to educational resources, such as information about college, and encourage students to apply to college by serving as a reference group. The favorable educational attainment of students with college-educated parents is partially due to the greater likelihood that they will take courses with other children of college-educated parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]