– The authors identify 14 distinct bridge program goals that can be organized into three categories: academic success goals, psychosocial goals, and department-level goals.
– Academic success goals include: Remediation- Providing Students with Foundational Knowledge in a STEM Domain, Improving Student Content Knowledge in a Discipline, Maximizing Student GPA, Increasing Student Retention, and Increasing Student Graduation Rate from College.
– Psychosocial goals include: Increasing Interest in the Major, Improving Student Sense of Belonging, Increasing Student Sense of Preparedness, Increasing Student Self-Efficacy, Networking with Students, and Networking with Faculty.
– Department-level goals include Recruiting Students to the Major and Enhancing Diversity in the Major
– The authors’ recommendations include: encouraging bridge developers and evaluators to publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals, reporting unsuccessful iterations to help develop more successful future programs, reporting more information about the details of implementing bridge programs (including costs and resources, recruitment and selection, size, curriculum development, and follow-up information), and aligning bridge goals with measured outcomes.
Current Selections
ClearBuilding Better Bridges into STEM: A Synthesis of 25 Years of Literature on STEM Summer Bridge Programs
Early Experiences and Integration in the Persistence of First-Generation College Students in STEM and Non-STEM Majors
To what extent are demographic and academic background, commitment and support, early experiences and integration, and ï¬rst semester academic outcomes related to the persistence of First generation college students (FGCSs) based on major in physical sciences, engineering, math, and computer sciences (PEMC-STEM), other-STEM, and non-STEM)?.
Money or Diversity? An Implementation Analysis of the Voluntary Transfer Program in St. Louis, 1999-2009
How did fiscal resources and human interests affect suburban implementation of the voluntary transfer program between 1999 and 2009?
Examination of Factors that Predict Academic Adjustment and Success of Community College Transfer Students in STEM at 4-Year Institutions
1) What background characteristics, community college experiences, and university experiences predict academic adjustment for community college transfer students in engineering and other STEM (nonengineering) disciplines? 2) What background characteristics, community college experiences, and university experiences predict cumulative GPA for community college transfer students in engineering and other STEM (nonengineering) disciplines?
Deconstructing the Transfer Student Capital: Intersect between Cultural and Social Capital among Female Transfer Students in STEM Fields
This study explored the experiences of female transfer students majoring in STEM areas at a midwestern university by highlighting the role of Transfer Student Capital in their academic and social adjustment. The authors further deconstructed the notion of Transfer Student Capital by looking at how cultural and social capital intersect through the early background influences as well as the pre- and post-transfer experience of female community college transfer students in STEM disciplines. Research questions include (1) How do students describe the early influences regarding people, places, and experiences that influenced their early interests in STEM majors? and (2) How do female transfer students describe their academic pre- and post-transfer process and experiences?
Examining the Self-Efficacy of Community College STEM Majors: Factors Related to Four-Year Degree Attainment
This study examines what experiences can improve the self-efficacy of community college students as it relates to research and whether this has an impact on their long-term career plans to pursue a STEM career.
School Choice, Racial Segregation, and Poverty Concentration: Evidence from Pennsylvania Charter School Transfers
1)To what extent are students and schools affected by movement between charter schools and traditional public schools (TPS)? 2) Are student transfers from TPS to brick and mortar (B&M) charter schools associated with increasing racial isolation? How does this vary by geography? 3) Are student transfers from TPSs to charter schools associated with increasing exposure to low-income students? 3) How does this vary by geography? 4) What are the demographic characteristics of the TPSs from which cyber students transfer?
Pathway to a Baccalaureate in STEM Fields: Are Community Colleges a Viable Route and Does Early STEM Momentum Matter?
1) Does beginning at a community college affect students’ baccalaureate completion and persistence in STEM fields of study at 4-year institutions? 2) To what extent is STEM momentum related to baccalaureate completion and persistence in STEM fields of study at 4-year institutions? 3) To what extent does beginning at a community college influence STEM momentum?
Course-Taking Patterns of Community College Students Beginning in STEM: Using Data Mining Techniques to Reveal Viable STEM Transfer Pathways
This study examines the course-taking trajectories of beginning community college students, and the resulting transfer outcomes as related to STEM. The following question guides this research: What course-taking patterns are most contributive to upward transfer in STEM fields?
Predictors of Latina/o Community College Student Vocational Choice of STEM Fields: Testing of the STEM-Vocational Choice Model
1) Are there statistically significant effects of exogenous factors associated with observed vocational interest on the dependent variable of vocational choice in STEM at transfer for community college students? 2) Will the exogenous and observed variables in the STEM-VC model serve as a successful predictive model for the intention to major in a STEM field at transfer for Latina/o community college students? For White students? 3) Are there significant differences between Latina/o and White student respondents in the final STEM-VC model measurement and pathway model and what are these differences between the two ethnic populations?
Predictors of Latina/o community college student vocational choice of STEM fields: Testing of the STEM-vocational choice mode
1) Are there statistically significant effects of exogenous factors associated with observed vocational interest on the dependent variable of vocational choice in STEM at transfer for community college students? 2) Will the exogenous and observed variables in the STEM-VC model serve as a successful predictive model for the intention to major in a STEM field at transfer for Latina/o community college students? For White students? 3) Are there significant differences between Latina/o and White student respondents in the final STEM-VC model measurement and pathway model and what are these differences between the two ethnic populations?
Demand (and Supply) in an Inter-District Public School Choice Program
This study examines parents’ demand for sending their children to a public school located outside their residential school district.