This study is situated within a large-scale national high school level engineering education initiative that aims to "demystify" engineering for high school students, teachers, and counselors through an all-inclusive high school level engineering course. Counselors participated in a series of PD activities centered on the following…

This paper uses administrative North Carolina data linked from high school to college and national surveys to characterize the largest contributor to the STEM gender gap: engineering. Disparities are the result of differential entry during high school or earlier rather than postsecondary exit. Differences in pre-college academic preparation…

This study examined the contributions of students' noncognitive characteristics toward explaining performance on the ACT® test, over and above traditional predictors such as high school grade point average (HSGPA), coursework taken, and school characteristics. The sample consisted of 6,440 high school seniors from 4,541 schools who took the ACT in…

Inclusive STEM high schools (ISHSs) (where STEM is science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) admit students on the basis of interest rather than competitive examination. This study examines the central assumption behind these schools--that they provide students from subgroups underrepresented in STEM with experiences that equip them…

The debate about high school reform is increasingly focused on the role of career-technical education (CTE) in helping to prepare "all" students for success in "both" postsecondary education and the workforce. The stand-alone vocational courses into which high school students with lower academic achievement were often channeled…

The purpose of this participatory action research was to create a comprehensive evaluation of advanced geoscience education in Pennsylvania public high schools and to ascertain the possible impact of this trend on student perceptions and attitudes towards the geosciences as a legitimate academic subject and possible career option. The study builds…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how students at Henry Lord Middle School in Fall River take into consideration their initial college and career aspirations when making their decision for high school. Self-efficacy theory, critical theory, and a literature review related to high school decision-making inform the analysis of…

This paper examines science education for girls in Achimota School, a second cycle institution in Accra, in terms of their motivations for pursuing science and future aspirations. It explores parental backgrounds and how they impacted on the motivations and aspirations of the girls. The survey method was adopted in this study, which involved a…

The purpose of this study was to explore the postsecondary educational and occupational expectations of work-bound rural youth. Three groups of work-bound youth were identified (work-bound, work-bound with future educational plans, and work-bound but unsure/undecided about postsecondary education), and each group was compared to college-bound…

At 15 to 19 years old, National Longitudinal Study-2 (NLTS2) youth are on the threshold of adulthood. As they look toward their future adult roles, what are their academic, occupational, and independence expectations? Multiple factors have been found to be associated with aspirations and expectations, including individual abilities and social…

This book makes available to a wider audience for the first time material based on fieldwork carried out by the Solomon Island researchers in their own country. The findings will have vital relevance to policy makers, teachers and students. Over the past four years the School of Education, Solomon Islands College of Higher Education and the…

This study presents the educational and career goals and perceptions of supports and barriers related to these goals as described in semistructured interviews of 16 students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds attending 9th grade at an urban public high school in a large Northeastern city. Using consensual qualitative research (CQR)…

Of 883 Iowa high school seniors, 60% lived in towns, 40% on farms. Both groups had a high level of congruence between educational and occupational aspirations and perceived minimal barriers to goal achievement. Farm and town students had equally diverse aspirations. (Contains 23 references.) (SK)

Surveys educational and occupational expectations of students, grades 10 to 12, in four rural Ohio schools. Reports females show significantly higher educational and occupational aspirations than males. Areas of anticipated college study and occupational expectations are sex stereotypic; however, young rural women's occupational aspirations are…

A survey of 184 rural high school students found no differences in educational aspiration between males and females. Females expressed significantly higher occupational aspirations, in terms of jobs rated highly on the Total Socioeconomic Index 2. (SK)