Using Multilayered Interventions to Improve Undergraduate Transfer Student Success in Biology

East Carolina University, Greenville NC

Investigators

Abstract

An increasing percentage of students at four-year universities have transferred from another institution. Transfer students, particularly those in STEM fields, frequently receive lower grades and drop out at higher rates than traditional university students. Improving the success of transfer students will help diversify the STEM workforce and improve the STEM pipeline, since many of these individuals are from groups underrepresented in STEM, first-generation, and/or low income. The reasons for this lower success rate include both academic and social factors. Thus, a comprehensive approach is necessary to increase the retention and success of transfer students. East Carolina University (ECU), in partnership with Pitt Community College (PCC) will offer the Pre-transfer Interventions, Mentoring, and Experience with Research (PRIMER) program, to determine how to better support and retain Biology transfer students. This program will include dual enrollment courses, held at both ECU and PCC, and dual advising, to build relationships with transfer students before they transition to the ECU campus. The overall goal of PRIMER is to identify interventions that promote transfer student success in Biology, resulting in higher academic achievement, increased retention and persistence in STEM fields, and a greater sense of belonging to the community at ECU. Over time, the project has intentions to expand successful PRIMER interventions to other STEM departments at ECU, to other community colleges, and to other four-year institutions. The impact of these interventions will be shared through a pre-existing, annual, regional Transfer Student Summit, as well as through national presentations and publications. Presentations and publications will focus on identifying the interventions which provide the greatest benefit, and for what demographic groups of students, with the goal of helping institutions focus their limited resources on interventions most likely to produce their desired outcome. This information has the potential to guide any university trying to improve transfer student success, which, in turn, can aid in increasing the number of students who graduate with STEM degrees. The two primary objectives of this project include: 1) A facilitated transition for biology students between PCC and ECU, and 2) Increased transfer student use of known best practices at ECU. Strategies to meet the first objective include increased exposure of transfer students to ECU academic life while still at the community college, through dual enrollment courses, enhanced knowledge of the transfer process through dual advising, and increased social supports for students before transfer through cohort classes and inclusion in ECU events. Strategies to meet the second objective include the implementation of a mentoring program and targeted research experiences specifically for ECU Biology transfer students. By testing these interventions in isolation and combination, and contrasting treatment groups to comparison groups, the potential interactive effects of these best practices will be better understood. The outcome of the project's interventions will serve as a test of the expansion of Schlossberg's Transition Theory to transfer student transitions. This theory describes four S's (situation, self, support, and strategies) that are necessary for successful transitions. In addition, the success of our interventions will provide a test of Astin's theory of involvement, in which students' backgrounds and experiences at university influence a student's ability to achieve academic success. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.