Pre-Alliance Planning: The Bridges Across Texas Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation

代表不足的学生数量正在增加，这些学生中越来越多的人在攻读大学学位，但他们的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)学士学位的完成率仍然落后于普通人群。横跨德克萨斯州的桥梁LSAMP(BAT LSAMP)Pre-Alliance将汇集来自六所高等院校的人员，制定一项计划，以改善未被充分代表的学生的招生、留住和毕业情况，重点是从社区大学转到四年制大学的STEM专业的学生。该项目的总体目标是加强从社区大学到四年制院校的渠道，并满足德克萨斯州日益增长的STEM劳动力需求。这一联盟前活动将重点评估：(I)代表性不足的学生的态度、障碍和需求；(Ii)合作院校STEM课程的现有能力和差距；(Iii)代表性不足的学生招生和保留战略；(Iv)四年制院校合作伙伴的转学障碍；以及(V)每个伙伴院校的基础设施需求。在18个月的时间里，该项目将管理学生和管理人员的问卷，举行焦点小组会议，并举行会议，以确定代表不足的STEM学生面临的障碍和需求。收集的数据将为政策提供参考，并产生满足学生需求的实践，最终目标是增加招生人数不足的学生完成STEM学位的人数。该项目的学术价值在于，它将产生关于两年制和四年制院校之间的关系如何发展和加强的实用知识，并将为高等教育机构如何在高等教育领域共同支持学生的不同途径提供见解。

The number of underrepresented students is increasing and more of these students are pursuing college degrees, but their completion rate for baccalaureate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees still lags the general population. The Bridges Across Texas LSAMP (BAT LSAMP) Pre-Alliance will bring together personnel from six institutions of higher learning to develop a plan to improve recruitment, retention, and graduation of underrepresented students, with a focus on students transferring from community colleges into STEM majors at four-year universities. The overarching goal of the project is to strengthen the pipeline from community colleges to four-year institutions, and address the growing STEM workforce needs of the State of Texas. This Pre-Alliance will focus on evaluating: (i) underrepresented students' attitudes, barriers, and needs; (ii) existing capacity and gaps in STEM curriculum at partner institutions; (iii) underrepresented students recruitment and retention strategies; (iv) transfer barriers at the four-year institution partners; and (v) infrastructure needs at each partner institution. Over 18 months, the project will administer student and administrator questionnaires, conduct focus-group meetings, and hold meetings to identify the barriers faced by and needs of underrepresented STEM students. The data gathered will inform policy and produce practices that meet students' needs, with an ultimate goal of increasing enrollment and completion of STEM degrees by underrepresented students. The intellectual merit of the project is that it will generate practical knowledge regarding how relationships between two-year and four-year institutions develop and strengthen, and will offer insights into how institutions of higher education can collectively support students' diverse pathways through the higher education landscape.