The number of people who attend their high school’s commencement has jumped from 1.3 million in 1999 to more than 2 million in 2020, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for American Progress.
The surge has come amid a surge in interest in STEM education.
The Center’s report analyzed the numbers of high school graduates in the United States who are taking STEM courses and their likelihood of graduating in four years.
“If we look at STEM in general, we’ve really hit a plateau in terms of how many people are pursuing STEM,” said David A. Kroll, executive director of the Center.
“It’s pretty low, but it’s going up.”
He cited a study by the Brookings Institution that showed the number of high schools with at least one year of STEM instruction rose to 6.4 million in the 1990s, but fell to just under 3 million in 2016.
That year, there were just under 6.2 million students in STEM programs.
Krol said the data shows that the interest is not going away anytime soon.
But, he said, that does not mean the numbers will keep rising.
“The thing is, the students are still interested,” Kroll said.
“I don’t think it’s slowing down.
But the students who are interested and are taking these courses are more likely to get into college.”
STEM education has become an important part of higher education in recent years, with a number of institutions offering STEM courses.
In addition to the University of Michigan and the University at Buffalo, several schools, including Harvard University, are offering a STEM degree program in 2020.
Klimas said that’s not enough.
“There’s a real demand, and it’s really high,” he said.
Kraws report says that while STEM courses have been growing in number, they have not yet reached the point that they’re the main way students learn about and get engaged with the sciences and engineering.
STEM courses also can be costly, with some costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“They are a critical part of the education system,” Kraw said.
While the numbers suggest that the demand for STEM education is increasing, there are still questions about the degree-granting process.
Many of the high school students in the study who enrolled in STEM courses were taking those courses for the first time after graduation, and they may not have a good sense of how to navigate the process.
Kretzer said the high schools should be looking to encourage students to apply for their diplomas through the process, rather than asking students to take classes.
The report notes that the process should focus on students who have already taken courses, rather just students who may not want to spend money on a diploma.
Kritzer said that while she has confidence in Kraw’s findings, she is concerned that high school graduation rates have not been increasing over the last decade, and there are a number students who can’t afford to attend college.
“High school graduation is still not increasing,” she said.
Related: Students learn STEM concepts in college at an all-girls high school
