Racial Inequality in STEM Participation and the COVID Pandemic

Primary Investigators

Yasmiyn Irizarry, Purnamrita Sarkar, and Joshua Childs, The University of Texas at Austin; Jamie Carroll (Tulane University)

Research Team: Michael Reid and Cameron Minor (UT Austin); Jonathon Briones (Brown)

This study focuses on racial inequality in enrollment patterns prior to the pandemic, and the impact of the COVID pandemic on these patterns, for several advanced STEM courses deemed critical to future STEM and life course outcomes: calculus, computer science, AP math, and AP science. Research questions include:

1. What does STEM course enrollment look like during the 2017-2018 school year (before the pandemic)? To what extent do these patterns vary by race? What contextual factors mitigate or moderate these differences?

2. How and to what extent do course enrollment patterns change during the 2020-2021 school year (after the start of the pandemic)? To what extent do these patterns vary by race?

3. What contextual factors help situate, mitigate, or moderate shifts in course enrollment during the pandemic, and any differences in these shifts by race?

This study was supported by funding from the Ford Foundation and the Associate Professor Experimental, hosted by UT Austin's Office of the Vice President for Research. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funder.