Institutional & Environmental Factors Impacting the Decision of Community College Students to Remain in the Future Math & Science Teacher Pipeline: A Study of UCI TEACH Math & Science Participants from 2003-2007
Based on the findings of this pilot study, the MSP project seeks to modify and administer the survey tool to a new set of program participants in Summer 2009 to build upon the findings. A major limitation of this study is the small sample size, which did not lend to multiple regression and other techniques that would enable the researcher to make predictions, as originally intended.
Findings that address research question #1 indicate that 50% of the participants have already graduated from a 4-year institution, with the majority graduating from one of the 10 University of California campuses. A total of 82% graduated with a STEM degree, and 36.4% are currently pursuing graduate studies. Approximately 14% of participants are currently secondary math or science teachers. Of the respondents who decided not to go into K-12 teaching, 75% cited their desire to go into post-secondary teaching as the main reason for not becoming an elementary or secondary teacher. Of the respondents who are currently pursuing undergraduate degrees, 81.8% are still interested in STEM teaching.
With regard to question #2, a significant negative correlation was found between community college faculty encouragement to enter teaching and participation in transfer institution future teacher programs and clubs, for respondents who report being currently employed as teachers. For current teachers, there was also a significant positive correlation between gender and participation in transfer institution future teacher programs/clubs, and between the availability of information on teaching pathways at the transfer institution and being born in the United States (as well as having parents who were born in the United States).
