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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.

Community colleges educate nearly half of all students who complete postsecondary degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. For many matriculated students, chemistry is a required gatekeeping course for postsecondary retention and advancement in STEM majors. This research explored community college student enrollment and performance in introductory chemistry courses for STEM majors, and how chemistry achievement related to student background characteristics and degree persistence. Data included grades, demographics, enrollment patterns, and degree status for 1,690 chemistry students who matriculated at a diverse, suburban community college from 2011 to 2014. Descriptive statistics indicated 32% of students received grades of D, F, or W in introductory chemistry; 49% of these students changed their majors after taking the course, with four-fifths of those degree changers switching to non-STEM fields. Binary logistic regression models revealed that chemistry enrollment was a significant predictor of degree change to non-STEM disciplines, with biology and anatomy/physiology coursetaking predicting STEM persistence. Degree change to non-STEM was predicted by chemistry performance but not by student characteristics including gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The results indicate that chemistry coursetaking and performance are notable factors affecting student persistence in STEM disciplines, and achievement is largely independent of student background variables. Implications for community college chemistry teaching and STEM academic advisement are discussed.

This study explored science, mathematics, and general academic factors that predicted outcomes for community college students (N = 3052) in a regional institution. A binary logistic regression was performed to determine significant independent variables contributing to successful outcomes (graduation or transfer) vs. non-completion. Transcript data over three years revealed that rate of science and mathematics course completion, science and mathematics course enrollment, and required mathematics and English remediation coursework were significant predictors of graduation and transfer. Results have implications for community college policy makers in strategizing to improve student outcomes by providing supports for specific academic coursework.