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Levels of “First Generationness”�Locale Factors

Marjorie Darrah and Roxann Humbert

This research is from the Qualitative Research Team, which means we deal is small numbers and try to dig a little deeper into the why questions. In this presentation I will focus on two common terns, one for First Generation Student and the other for Rural, and look at more nuanced definitions for each of these terms.

To collect data for this research, we did interviews, surveys, and we also looked up important statistics about the counties of our state. We also got data from WVU’s Institutional Research department and have contacted similar people at FSU and would really like to work with any other institution around the state to get their data. I will explain more as I go through.

I should also say, we focused on data collection on the First2 Immersive students, but would also like to branch out and reach all students who have been associated in some way with First2.

Our ultimate goals is to see better define who these students are and what help they may need to achieve persistence in STEM.

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First Generation Levels

Not all First Generation students come from the same background, thus some may need more assistance than others. Who might need more help?

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Opinion Published in Inside HigherED: https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2022/03/02/first-gen-category-encompasses-varied-group-opinion

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First2 Student Survey �(Give every Fall to Immersive Experiences Students)

Year	Sent	Responded	Response Rate
2018 (Pilot)	26	7	27%
2019	27	14	52%
2020	69	34	49%
2021	56	21	38%
Total	178	76	43%

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What do we notice?

First Gen students are influenced by siblings, friends, and extended family more that Non-First Gen students are to go to College.

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What do we notice?

First Gen students are influenced by teachers, guidance counselors, classes and clubs more than Non-First Gen students are to go to College.

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What do we notice?

First Gen student are influenced by extended family or friends more than Non-First Gen students are to study STEM.

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What do we notice?

First Gen students are influenced by teachers, classes and clubs more than Non-First Gen students are to study STEM.

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For the 54 (of the 76) student respondents to the SNA Survey from WVU and WVU IT we can report on persistence in a STEM major till the end of 2022.

Non-FG (N = 13), Level 1 (N = 19), Level 2 (N = 4), Level 3 (N = 5), Level 4 (N = 3)

What do we notice?

Non-FG are retained at a higher rate and change their majors less. However, Level 1 FG are at pace with Non FG

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Based on our initial research,

Level 1 students (parents attended some college)seem to be able to keep pace with their non-first-generation peers
Levels 2, 3, and 4 are particularly vulnerable and could use more assistance
There are not nearly as many students at these levels as total first-generation students, and they are the ones who would most greatly benefit from a targeted intervention

peer mentoring
special advising
financial counseling

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Locale Factor that Influence Persistence in STEM

This study attempts to look at locales in a way that classifies them, not by population or proximity to urban settings, but by other factors that may affect students related to STEM persistence.

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Locale Factors Student Data

number of libraries
number of museums
number of STEM museums
public transit
number of advanced education institutions
average STEM AP courses per high school
percentage of population high school grads
percentage of population with Bachelors
percentage of population with advanced degrees
percent high school graduation rate
percent college going rate
median size high school
percent rural high schools

Students entering WVU during a 5-year span, between 2010 and 2014, so they could be tracked through graduation by 2020.

13,408 student records
3264 were STEM majors

County level data

number of students who declared STEM
number of students who graduated from STEM within 5 years

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Variable	Locale 1 Average	Locale 2 Average	Locale 3 Average
Number of Libraries	8.4	4.15	2.6
Number of Museums	7.6	3.25	1.7
Number of STEM Museums	1	0	0.03
Public Transit	1.2	0.8	0.47
Number of Advance Ed. Inst.	6	2.15	0.63
Average AP Courses per/HS	5.35	4.74	2.06
Percent HS Grad	89.62	85.81	80.75
Percent Population w/Bachelors	28.8	18.7	11.19
Percent Population w/Advanced Degrees	4.08	1.58	1.37
Percent HS 4-year Graduation	91.01	92.58	92.71
Percent College Going	57.02	49.5	45.75
Median HS Size	1370.4	709.6	481.8
Percent Rural HS (NCES)	44.4	47.4	91.66
Declared STEM WVU	25.7	23.9	29.7
Graduated in STEM WVU	43.5	42.3	29.8

We did cluster analysis, this basically groups counties together by these factors and then we took an average to get representative values for each of these factors.

For example Average (STEM related) AP Courses, Median HS Size, Number of Higher Ed institutions.

You can see that the RED cluster 1 counties are more resourced than the others.

BLUE counties are in the middle.

YELLOW counties are less resourced than the others.

But the interesting part comes when you look at how many students start in STEM from these counties.

The YELLOW, lowest resourced counties seem to be proportionally doing a good job at sending students to pursue STEM at WVU, however they are the least likely to succeed. You might notice that the desire and the messaging is getting through that STEM leads to a good future, but they have not been prepared or maybe do not know what to expect.

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First2 Persistence by Locale Codes

For the 33 respondents of our Student Survey that are students from WVU and WVU IT we can report on persistence in a STEM major till the end of 2022.

Locale Code 1 (N = 4) Persistence 75%

Locale Code 2 (N = 21) Persistence 66.7%

Locale Code 3 (N = 8) Persistence 62.5%

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Based on our initial research,

Locale Code 1 students have more resources and persist in STEM at higher rates.
Students who come from Locale Codes 2 counties persist in STEM at a similar rate as Locale Code 1, but a smaller percentage are choosing STEM.
Students who come from Locale Codes 3 counties, choose STEM at the highest rate, but persist in STEM at the lowest rate.

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Questions for Discussion

What surprised you about these findings?
Do you think that using a more nuanced definition of First Generation would be beneficial? If so, how can we use this to benefit the students?
How can knowing locale factors that help student persist in STEM help?
What things can we affect in the WV?