Scholarship Program for Retaining, Inspiring, and eNabling Graduates (SPRING): Implementation and Assessment of its Impact on Retention and Graduation Rates

那些怀着完成STEM专业的愿望进入大学，但数学能力相对较弱的学生，往往比同龄人成功获得STEM学位的几率要低得多。这些对STEM领域感兴趣的学生的流失导致了支撑美国经济所需的STEM专业学生数量的相对缺乏。密歇根州立大学莱曼布里格斯学院开发了一个强大的入学计划，重点是灌输定量和综合推理（INQUIRE），以帮助这些学生克服他们较低的数学准备，并成功进入大学科学课程。然而，导致数学水平低的因素也与低社会经济地位和非常高的经济需求水平显著相关。因此，尽管完成INQUIRE项目的学生能够在大学理科课程中取得学业上的成功，但他们在大学取得成功的能力仍然经常受到经济因素的阻碍（包括高额债务负担和需要将宝贵的时间奉献给工作以获得收入，而不是专注于学术努力）。SPRING计划将从大学二年级开始到毕业，分两批支持有经济需要的有天赋的学生。SPRING奖学金获得者将获得以下方面的支持：1)奖学金；2)发展具有强大教师指导的团队；3)专业职业技能发展和网络建设。每个学生的经历将通过面试密切监测，以更好地了解项目的哪个方面是最有益的，为什么。此外，我们将使用数据分析来比较参加SPRING项目的学生与未参加该项目的匹配学生的保留率和毕业率。该项目将支持至少26名来自STEM学科的学者攻读学士学位。学生第一年将获得最高3000美元，第二年将获得6000美元，最后一年将获得9000美元。SPRING项目将帮助学者调查科学事业的可能性，并帮助他们对自己的职业道路做出明智的决定。在整个项目中，项目团队将采用半结构化访谈、学生自我反思和数据分析来评估项目的有效性。具体而言，该团队将调查1)春季计划如何影响入学数学水平较低的学生，2)在询问计划之后，低数学水平的学生毕业的障碍是什么，3)学生对计划不同组成部分的价值认知，4)奖学金计划膨胀性质的影响，以及5)春季计划对学生保留率，毕业率和职业道路的影响结果。研究结果将被传播，并将增加与机构有关的文献，这些机构致力于有效地支持数学准备较弱的入学学生。

Students who enter college with the desire to complete a STEM major but have relatively weak mathematics proficiency tend to successfully earn their STEM degree at a much lower rate than their peers. The loss of these students who are interested in STEM fields contributes to the relative dearth in quantity of STEM majors needed to support the US economy. Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University has developed a strong entry program focused on INstilling QUantitative and Integrative Reasoning (INQUIRE) to help these students overcome their lower math preparation and successfully enter into the college science curriculum. However, the factors that lead to low math proficiency also correlate notably with low socioeconomic status and very high levels of financial need. Thus although the students who complete the INQUIRE program are able to academically succeed in college science courses, their ability to succeed in college is frequently still hindered by financial considerations (including high debt burden and the need to dedicate precious hours to working jobs for income, rather than focusing on academic endeavors). The SPRING program will support students who are talented with demonstrated financial need in two cohorts starting in their second year of college through to graduation. The SPRING scholars will be supported with 1) scholarships, 2) the development of a cohort with strong faculty mentorship, and 3) professional career skills development and network building. The experience of each student will be closely monitored through interviews to better understand which aspect of the program were most beneficial and why. Additionally, we will use data analytics to compare the retention and graduation rates of the students involved in the SPRING program to matched students not participating in the program.This project will support a minimum of 26 scholars across a range of STEM disciplines in their pursuit of a bachelor's degree. Students will receive up to $3000 in the first year, $6000 in the second and $9000 in the final year. The SPRING program will help scholars investigate the breadth of possibilities in science careers and help them make informed decisions about their career path. Throughout the project, the project team will employ semi-structured interviews, student self-reflections, and data analytics to evaluate the efficacy of the program. Specifically, the team will investigate 1) how the SPRING program impacts students with low incoming math proficiency, 2) what barriers to graduation remain for low math proficiency after the INQUIRE program, 3) what value students perceive for the different components of the program, 4) the impact of the inflating nature of the scholarship program, and 5) the result of the impact of the SPRING program on student retention, graduation rates, and career paths. Findings will be disseminated and will add to the growing literature relevant for institutions working on effective ways to support entering students with weaker mathematics preparation.