Mathematics as a factor in community college STEM performance, persistence, and degree attainment

Community colleges serve a vital role in the education of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors in the United States, however, most research to date on STEM pipeline persistence from academia to the workforce has focused on four-year colleges, which limits understanding of the potential of two-year pathways in diversifying STEM participation. One chronic issue is the vertical alignment of community college STEM education with workforce demands and advancement to baccalaureate institutions. This research builds upon prior work by exploring the initial mathematics enrollment and performance of STEM majors, and how this relates to demographic and socioeconomic variables and the likelihood of degree change from STEM to non-STEM disciplines, graduation and transfer rates, attrition from college, science performance, and credit production. This explanatory observational study employed multiple regression techniques to examine transcript data from four cohorts of community college STEM majors (n = 1,511) over 3 years of enrollment in an institution in the Northeast U.S. Results indicated that students who first enrolled in remedial mathematics courses experienced a higher likelihood of changing to non-STEM majors, greater attrition, lower credit production, weaker science performance, and lower rates of graduation and transfer to four-year colleges. Students who completed developmental mathematics courses failed algebra and trigonometry at a rate of 68%, indicating remediation coursework did not prepare most students for the mathematics required for science degrees. Students who qualified for advanced mathematics as their entry level course outperformed students who first took lower level classes. Demographic variables and socioeconomic status had limited predictive value for STEM-related outcomes. Results suggest that community college STEM majors may benefit from reconceptualized developmental curricula focused on essential skills for success in advanced mathematics and science, as well as clarity on transferable coursework and structured pathways to reach the milestones required for STEM degrees and careers.