Commentary: The Case for Transformation in Undergraduate STEM Education

Commentary: The Case for Transformation in Undergraduate STEM Education: Every day, it seems — and rightly so — there are new calls to strengthen and diversify the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pipeline by leaders from across the political spectrum. The education community knows this cause well. As many researchers will tell you, interest in STEM majors and careers by underrepresented students is not the issue. It’s what happens along the way to a STEM degree that poses a problem to the majority of students who start down this path.

According to UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, of all Black, Native American, and Hispanic students who aspire to a STEM degree in their first college year, just 19 percent, 20 percent and 22 percent, respectively graduate from a STEM department.

There is wide agreement that students who leave STEM will disproportionately do so in the first two college years. Hence, the growth of activities to support students and stem this tide of attrition — chief among them being bridge programs, cohort learning models and intensive advising in the freshman and sophomore years.