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

留住、激励和电子化毕业生奖学金计划 (SPRING)：实施和评估其对保留率和毕业率的影响

• 批准号: 1564745
• 负责人: Ryan Sweeder
• 金额: $ 64.93万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-04-01 至 2022-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1564745&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Scholarship; Program; Retaining; Inspiring; eNabling

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.

怀着完成STEM专业的愿望进入大学，但数学水平相对较低的学生往往比同龄人成功获得STEM学位的比率要低得多。这些对STEM领域感兴趣的学生的流失，导致支持美国经济所需的STEM专业数量相对稀缺。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，专注于灌输定量和综合推理(INQUIRE)，以帮助这些学生克服数学准备不足的问题，并成功进入大学理科课程。然而，导致数学水平低下的因素也与较低的社会经济地位和非常高的经济需求密切相关。因此，尽管完成了INQUIRE项目的学生能够在大学理科课程上取得学术上的成功，但他们在大学取得成功的能力仍然经常受到经济考虑的阻碍(包括沉重的债务负担，以及需要将宝贵的时间投入工作以赚取收入，而不是专注于学术努力)。春季项目将支持从大学二年级到毕业的两组有经济需求的有才华的学生。春季学者将获得1)奖学金，2)发展具有强大教师指导的队列，3)职业技能发展和网络建设。每名学生的经历将通过访谈得到密切关注，以更好地了解该计划的哪些方面最有益，以及为什么。此外，我们将使用数据分析来比较参加春季项目的学生和没有参加项目的匹配学生的保留率和毕业率。这个项目将支持一系列STEM学科的至少26名学者攻读学士学位。学生将在第一年获得最高3000美元，第二年获得6000美元，最后一年获得9000美元。春季项目将帮助学者调查科学职业的可能性，并帮助他们就自己的职业道路做出明智的决定。在整个项目中，项目团队将使用半结构化访谈、学生自我反省和数据分析来评估该计划的效果。具体地说，该团队将调查1)春季项目如何影响入学数学水平较低的学生，2)调查项目结束后数学水平较低的学生仍面临哪些毕业障碍，3)学生对项目的不同组成部分有何看法，4)奖学金项目膨胀的性质的影响，以及5)春季项目对学生保留率、毕业率和职业道路的影响。调查结果将被传播，并将增加与机构相关的日益增长的文献，这些机构正在努力寻找有效的方法来支持数学准备较弱的学生入学。