Using Multilayered Interventions to Improve Undergraduate Transfer Student Success in Biology

四年制大学转学的学生比例越来越高。转校生，尤其是那些在STEM领域的转校生，往往比传统大学的学生成绩更低，退学率更高。提高转学生的成功率将有助于使STEM劳动力多样化并改善STEM管道，因为其中许多人来自STEM中代表性不足的群体，第一代和/或低收入群体。这种低成功率的原因包括学术和社会因素。因此，一个综合的方法是必要的，以提高留校率和成功的转学生。东卡罗莱纳大学（ECU）将与皮特社区学院（PCC）合作，提供转学前干预、指导和研究经验（PRIMER）项目，以确定如何更好地支持和留住生物学转校生。该项目将包括在ECU和PCC同时举办的双招生课程，以及双咨询，以在转学生转到ECU校园之前与他们建立关系。PRIMER的总体目标是确定促进转校生在生物学方面取得成功的干预措施，从而提高学业成绩，增加在STEM领域的保留率和持久性，并增强对ECU社区的归属感。随着时间的推移，该项目打算将成功的PRIMER干预措施扩展到ECU的其他STEM部门、其他社区学院和其他四年制大学。这些干预措施的影响将通过预先存在的年度区域转学生峰会以及国家演讲和出版物来分享。演讲和出版物将侧重于确定提供最大利益的干预措施，以及针对哪些学生人口群体，目的是帮助机构将有限的资源集中在最有可能产生预期结果的干预措施上。这些信息有可能指导任何试图提高转学生成功率的大学，这反过来又有助于增加获得STEM学位的学生人数。该项目的两个主要目标包括：1)促进生物学生在PCC和ECU之间的过渡，2)增加转学生使用ECU已知的最佳实践。实现第一个目标的策略包括增加转校生在社区大学期间对ECU学术生活的接触，通过双注册课程，通过双指导提高对转学过程的了解，以及通过队列课程和参与ECU活动增加转学前对学生的社会支持。实现第二个目标的策略包括实施指导计划和针对ECU生物学转校生的有针对性的研究经验。通过单独和联合测试这些干预措施，并将治疗组与对照组进行对比，将更好地了解这些最佳做法的潜在相互作用。该项目干预的结果将作为Schlossberg的过渡理论扩展到转学生过渡的测试。这个理论描述了成功转型所必需的四个S（情境、自我、支持和策略）。此外，我们的干预措施的成功将为Astin的参与理论提供一个测试，在这个理论中，学生的背景和大学经历会影响学生取得学业成功的能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.