Evidence of Opportunity Gaps in Construction Education: A Longitudinal Analysis of Student Success

ABSTRACT

There is a global demand for construction managers, and an undergraduate degree in a construction-related field offers some of the best prospects for entry into the profession. However, despite demand, undergraduate construction education programs continue to lack racial-ethnic diversity. This longitudinal case study explores and compares 1990 through 2009 and 2010 through 2017 enrollment trends and academic success outcomes (e.g. GPA and graduation rates) among undergraduate Latino/Hispanic and racially minoritized students and their respective peers at a large construction management program in the western United States (n = 3373). Statistically significant differences in academic success outcome variables, shown in literature to indicate evidence of opportunity gaps, were observed between groups. Furthermore, it was noted that the magnitude of some of these mean differences were larger between 2010 and 2017 when compared to the mean differences between 1990 and 2009. Recommendations, future research, limitations, and interpretation of the results are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Diversity
• minority
• construction management
• higher education
• opportunity gap

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.