Beyond gender: The intersectional impact of community demographics on the continuation rates of male and female students into high school physics

TL;DR

This study explores how gender and other demographic factors, including neighborhood and parental education, influence high school physics continuation rates, revealing significant school-level effects and differences between male and female students.

Contribution

It provides a detailed intersectional analysis of demographic influences on physics continuation, emphasizing the importance of considering multiple factors beyond gender alone.

Findings

Neighborhood racial demographics have limited impact after controlling for other factors.

Higher parental STEM degrees correlate with increased physics continuation.

Continuation in chemistry and calculus strongly predicts physics continuation, especially for males.

Abstract

This study examines the complex interplay of gender and other demographics on continuation rates in high school physics. Using a diverse dataset that combines demographics from the Canadian Census and eleven years of gendered enrolment data from the Ontario Ministry of Education, we track student cohorts as they transition from mandatory science to elective physics courses. We then employ hierarchical linear modelling to quantify the interaction effects between gender and other demographics, providing a detailed perspective on the on continuation in physics. Our results indicate the racial demographics of a school's neighbourhood have a limited impact on continuation once controlling for other factors such as socioeconomic status, though neighbourhoods with a higher Black population were a notable exception, consistently exhibiting significantly lower continuation rates for both male and female students. A potential role model effect related to parental education was also found as the proportion of parents with STEM degrees correlates positively with increased continuation, whereas an increase in non-STEM degrees corresponds with a reduced SCR. The most pronounced effects are school-level factors. Continuation rates in physics are very strongly correlated with continuation in chemistry or calculus - effects which are much stronger for male than female students. Conversely, continuation in biology positively correlates with the continuation of female students in physics, with little to no effect found for male students. Nevertheless, the effect sizes observed for chemistry and calculus markedly outweigh that for biology. This is further evidence that considering STEM as a homogeneous subject when examining gender disparities is misguided. These insights can guide future education policies and initiatives to increase continuation rates and foster greater gender equity in physics education.