High School Course Access and Postsecondary STEM Enrollment and Attainment. (March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Darolia, Rajeev; Koedel, Cory; Main, Joyce B.; Ndashimye, J. Felix; Yan, Junpeng
• Is Part Of: Educational evaluation and policy analysis. Volume 42:Number 1(2020)
• Page Start: 22
• Page End: 45
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Subjects: economics of education -- educational policy -- high schools -- postsecondary education -- econometric analysis -- longitudinal studies -- regression analyses; Education -- Evaluation -- Research -- United States -- Periodicals; Education -- Research -- United States -- Periodicals; 370.7
• DOI: 10.3102/0162373719876923
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0162-3737

Abstract

We study the effects of access to high school math and science courses on postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrollment and degree attainment using administrative data from Missouri. Our data include more than 140, 000 students from 14 cohorts entering the 4-year public university system. The effects of high school course access are identified by exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in course offerings within high schools over time. We find that differential access to high school courses does not affect postsecondary STEM enrollment or degree attainment. Our null results are estimated precisely enough to rule out moderate impacts.