Increasing Student Success for Community College STEM Students

Everett Community College, Everett WA

Investigators

Abstract

Despite the positive outcomes that are associated with summer bridge programs, research shows these results fade as students move away from the initial intervention and advance through the college experience. This project at Everett Community College in Washington is guided by a desire to understand to what extent providing an intensive summer bridge program from high school to community college combined with high-touch student support services, including faculty mentoring, impacts the enrollment and success of low income students with promising academic talent. The model draws from the evidence-based literature to create a holistic educational approach focused on student retention and completion outcomes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields of study. Through targeted recruitment activities, the program will seek to increase STEM enrollments of underrepresented populations including women and students of color. In an effort to create an equitable access to education, the project will contribute to the knowledge base and investigate outcomes to understand if the program is working as expected, how it is working, and for what types of students. Through a comprehensive dissemination plan, the broader STEM community will benefit from a better understanding of when and why students are retained in or leave these programs, including those who successfully transfer on time or transfer before they graduate from community college The program will combine a college readiness approach through an intensive summer bridge with student support strategies based on TRIO strategies to improve enrollment, retention, college success, and graduation or transfer. It will capitalize on the boost and immediate positive outcomes from summer bridge programs and couple the intervention to TRIO and related high-impact practices. Summer bridge activities will focus on academic coursework gains and provide non-cognitive skill training related to different education conditions and fixed and growth mindsets to assure that beginning students have the tools needed to succeed in their fall classes. The STEM TRIO program provides additional support that includes strong transfer and career pathway planning, consistent check-ins to re-assess individual needs, and early warning for academic performance. All scholars are assigned to faculty mentors who assist the students to develop academic plans and meet with them regularly to review progress. Experiential learning (internships, special projects, and/or connection with professional organizations) is part of the pathway for all students. The project will engage 60 unduplicated STEM Scholars who are low income, high school seniors demonstrating promising academic talent and seek a degree in physics, chemistry, computer science, engineering or mathematics. A mixed method data collection plan will yield a rich set of results to improve the program intervention and the collegiate instructional experience and document student outcomes. Outcomes data will be disaggregated by groups (i.e., income, race/ethnicity, gender, first-generation status, and other defining characteristics) so that the leadership team, in concert with the internal researcher and external evaluator, can make informed decisions about the intervention, program improvements, and student outcomes and overall impact.