Degree Date

9-2019

Document Type

Dissertation - Public Access

Degree Name

Ed.D. Doctor of Education

Academic Discipline

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Agnieszka A. Hanni

Second Advisor

Nathan Cradit

Third Advisor

Colleen Ramos

Abstract

“The number of native-born S&E [science and engineering] graduates entering the workforce is likely to decline unless the nation intervenes to improve success in educating S&E students from all demographic groups, especially those that have been underrepresented in S&E careers” (National Science Board [NSB], 2003, p. 13). More than a decade ago, the National Science Board (NSB) sounded an alarm regarding the projected decline in native-born science and engineering graduates with the aim of driving strategic fundamental changes. There is limited evidence that the NSB’s prognostication is actively being addressed. Approximately 81% percent of all full-time graduate students in U.S. electrical engineering programs are international students with 79% of them majoring in computer science (Redden, 2017). The U.S. will need 1 million STEM professionals over the next 10 years to fill a growing domestic economic demand (Xue & Larson, 2015). “Mathematics preparation may be particularly critical, since at many colleges, readiness for college-level calculus is a prerequisite to admission for quantitative majors” (Oakes, 1990, p. 14). As of April 2019, approximately 48 undergraduate bachelor degrees at Saint Louis University required students to take Survey of Calculus or Calculus 1 as a prerequisite for meeting graduating requirements in STEM majors. According to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), students who took high school calculus and expressed interest in STEM careers had the lowest attrition rate in college (U.S. Department of Education [DOE], 2014). Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland indicates that students that took advance mathematics in high school received a greater economic return over life-time (James, 2013; Thompson, 2013). This study used correlations and regression tests to determine that the educational attainment of the parent’s was statistical significant in predicting high school calculus completion. The research data set from the DOE contained approximately 18,922 high school students from across the nation. If the parent’s highest level of education was a high school diploma then only 8.54% of the children took and passed high school calculus in comparison to 44.08% of the children of doctorate graduates that took and passed calculus.

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