Improving the Transition of Community College Students into University STEM Programs Through Cross-Enrollment

在改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI）计划的支持下，这个第一轨道项目旨在使拥有学士学位的STEM毕业生多样化。该项目打算通过交叉注册STEM课程来提高学生从社区大学到四年制大学的转学率，从而实现这一目标。交叉招生计划使在社区大学就读的学生也可以在四年制大学就读课程。交叉招生项目为学生提供低成本的机会，让他们通过体验四年制大学的课程来熟悉该大学的校园。该项目旨在增加参与交叉招生STEM课程的学生人数，重点是增加种族和少数民族的交叉招生。参与交叉招生项目可以增强学生完成STEM课程的信心，从而提高社区大学学生进入STEM学士学位课程的转学率。这个项目是由加州大学欧文分校和三个社区学院合作伙伴，欧文山谷学院，奥兰治海岸学院和马鞍峰学院合作完成的。项目团队旨在确定交叉招生参与对学生转到四年制大学的可能性的影响，并确定和测试改进交叉招生计划的方法。包括拥有不同学生群体的社区大学在内的交叉招生项目有可能提高转学率，从而使四年制大学的STEM毕业生群体多样化。该项目将研究社区大学生对交叉注册STEM课程的好处和障碍的看法。根据焦点小组的调查结果以及对社区大学生、管理人员和STEM教师的调查，研究小组将设计和实施干预措施，以增加在加州大学欧文分校交叉注册STEM课程的社区大学生的数量。本研究旨在探讨交叉招生对社区大学生转读四年制大学概率的影响，并为如何改善STEM专业学生的交叉招生体验提供证据。学生将被随机分配，接受单独的信息或信息加上额外的支持，如停车证和书籍和课程材料的代金券。这些学生将被跟踪长达三年，使项目团队能够检查哪些支持对增加STEM课程的交叉注册最有效，并研究交叉注册对最终转到四年制大学STEM专业的影响。一所四年制大学和三所地区社区学院之间的合作可以成为其他寻求扩大和多样化STEM项目途径的机构的典范。HSI计划旨在加强HSI的本科STEM教育和能力建设。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。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。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to diversify the pool of STEM graduates with bachelor's degrees. The project intends to accomplish this goal by increasing student transfer rates from community colleges to four-year institutions through cross-enrollment in STEM courses. A cross-enrollment program enables students who are enrolled at a community college to also be enrolled in courses at a four-year college. Cross-enrollment programs provide low-cost opportunities for students to become acquainted with a four-year institution's campus by experiencing courses at that institution. This project seeks to increase the number of students participating in cross-enrollment STEM courses with emphasis on increasing cross-enrollment for racial and ethnic minorities. Participating in cross-enrollment programs could enhance a student's confidence in their ability to complete STEM courses and could thus increase transfer rates of community college students into STEM bachelor's degree programs. This project is a collaboration between the University of California, Irvine and three community college partners, Irvine Valley College, Orange Coast College, and Saddleback College. The project team aims to identify the effects of cross-enrollment participation on a student's probability of transferring to a four-year institution and to identify and test methods for improving cross-enrollment programs. Cross-enrollment programs that include community colleges with diverse student populations have the potential to increase transfer rates and thus diversify the pool of STEM graduates at four-year colleges. This project will examine community college students' perceptions of the benefits of and barriers to cross-enrollment in STEM courses. Based on findings from focus groups and surveys with community college students, administrators, and STEM faculty, the study team will design and implement interventions to increase the number of community college students who are cross-enrolled in STEM courses at the University of California, Irvine. This study aims to examine the effects of cross-enrollment on community college students' probability of transferring to a four-year college and to provide evidence about how to improve the cross-enrollment experience for students in STEM programs. Students will be randomly assigned to receive information alone or information plus additional supports, such as parking passes and vouchers for books and course materials. These students will be followed for up to three years, enabling the project team to examine which supports are most effective for increasing cross-enrollment in STEM courses and to study the effects of cross-enrollment on eventual transfer to a STEM major at a four-year college. The partnership between a four-year university and three area community colleges could be a model for other institutions seeking to expand and diversify the pathways into STEM programs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.