Peer-Led Team Learning Improves Minority Student Retention in STEM Majors

The Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology issued a report in 2012 calling for a drastic increase in the number of STEM graduates produced in our country over the following decade if we are to remain economically competitive globally (PCAST, 2012). The report cited the disparity between the diversity among the general public versus that of the STEM professional community and recommended measures to ensure that the women and members of underrepresented racial groups, who together comprise 70% of college graduates but only 45% of college STEM graduates, would become better represented in those fields. This call for action echoed calls by the National Academy of Sciences to expand underrepresented minority participation in STEM at the college level (NAS, 2011). In the following study, we examined whether participation in the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) model in introductory biology influenced the rates of recruitment into STEM and retention in STEM for underrepresented minority (URM) students and for non-URM students. Chi-square analyses reveal that there are significant gaps in STEM recruitment and retention rates between URM and non-URM students, but when these students participate in the PLTL model, no differences in STEM recruitment or retention rates were observed. Additionally, we found that STEM retention rates were significantly improved for URM students who engaged in PLTL.