Supporting Undergraduates from Community College to Excel and Succeed in STEM

该规划项目将通过探索机制来支持从Alamance社区学院（ACC）的早期大学项目转到Elon大学的优秀低收入家庭学生的保留和毕业，从而满足国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求。在为期两年的时间里，该项目将为学生从ACC的早期大学课程转到四年制大学伊隆（Elon）攻读生物学、化学、计算机科学、工程、环境研究、数学和/或物理学学士学位建立一条途径。主要活动包括在STEM教师和管理人员之间建立合作关系，以及与合作机构的招生、机构研究和财政援助办公室建立合作关系，以确定合格奖学金获得者的潜在数量和奖学金金额。该项目还将支持一个强有力的需求评估，以指导STEM学生和教师试点项目的开发、执行和评估。这些试点项目包括为每个机构的教师举办一个关于包容性教学、包容性指导和跨文化能力的教师专业发展研讨会系列。此外，学生发展研讨会系列旨在帮助学生建立学习小组、真实目标设定、寻求辅导、适应力、自我效能、自我倡导、成长心态和刻板印象威胁等主题，以帮助学生建立学术成功的技能和心态。该项目旨在使学生能够坚持获得STEM本科学位并进入STEM职业。在参与式学习和学生支持基础设施方面的现有投资将用于支持该项目。该项目有可能促进对战略伙伴关系如何利用资源和规划来积极影响从社区大学转到四年制大学的成绩优异的低收入学生的招生、留校和毕业的理解。为了提高有经济需求的高成就低收入本科生的STEM学位完成率，该项目将实现五个目标。首先，通过建立一个由管理人员和来自合作机构的STEM教师组成的领导团队，为从ACC转到Elon的高成就、低收入学生建立一条途径。其次是评估教师和学生的学术、社会和/或认知需求，以及合作机构的财务和规划结构。第三是确定合格奖学金获得者的潜在人数和奖学金金额。第四，在需求评估的基础上，对STEM学生和教师进行试点和评估。第五是制定未来的Track 3 S-STEM提案，并制定健全的评估和传播计划。财政、学术和指导支持是提高学生对STEM坚持度的示范策略。许多四年制学院和大学都有资源和基础设施来促进学生的保留和成功。然而，对于那些从社区大学转学到完成STEM学位的成绩优异的低收入学生来说，这些资源的有效性知之甚少。该项目将调查STEM转学生和STEM教师的感知需求和期望是否与文献中记录的一致。它还将探讨STEM教师和转学生的看法和期望的交集。该项目有可能表明，调整STEM教师和转学生的感知需求和期望可以增强学生对STEM的坚持。评估方法包括定量和定性调查、焦点小组和资产映射，以描述需求和期望，以及来自合作机构的学生和教师的定量数据。该项目的结果将在STEM教育会议上发布，以促进对影响扩大STEM领域参与的因素的理解，并鼓励在四年制大学和社区学院之间建立更多的战略伙伴关系，利用资源。该项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生在STEM领域获得学位的人数。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并为低收入学生提供有关学业成功、留校、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。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。

This planning project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by exploring mechanisms to support the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need who would transfer from the Early College Program operating at Alamance Community College (ACC) to Elon University. Over its 2-year duration, this project will build a pathway for students to transfer from an early college program at ACC to Elon, a four-year institution, to pursue bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Mathematics, and/or Physics. Key activities include building collaborative relationships between STEM faculty and administrators, as well as with the offices of admissions, institutional research, and financial aid at partner institutions to determine the potential number of eligible scholarship recipients and scholarship amounts. The project will also support a robust needs assessment to guide the development, execution, and evaluation of pilot programming for STEM students and faculty. Such pilot programming includes a faculty professional development workshop series on inclusive teaching, inclusive mentoring, and intercultural competence for faculty from each institution. In addition, a student development workshop series is envisioned to help students build skills and mindsets for academic success, by covering topics such as study groups, authentic goal-setting, seeking tutoring, resilience, self-efficacy, self-advocacy, growth mindset, and stereotype threat. The project aims to empower students to persist to earn undergraduate STEM degrees and enter STEM careers. Existing investments in engaged learning and student support infrastructure will be leveraged to support the project. This project has the potential to advance understanding of how strategic partnerships can leverage resources and programming to positively affect the recruitment, retention, graduation of high-achieving, low-income students who transfer from community colleges to 4-year institutions.To increase STEM degree completion for high-achieving, low-income undergraduates with demonstrated financial need the project will pursue five goals. First is to build a pathway for high-achieving, low income students transferring from ACC to Elon by creating a leadership team of administrators and STEM faculty from the collaborating institutions. Second is to assess the academic, social, and/or cognitive needs of faculty and students as well as the financial and programming structures of the collaborating institutions. Third is to determine the potential number of eligible scholarship recipients and scholarship amounts. Fourth is to pilot and evaluate programming for STEM students and faculty that is informed by the needs assessment. Fifth is to develop a future Track 3 S-STEM proposal with robust evaluation and dissemination plans. Financial, academic, and mentoring support are demonstrated strategies to increase student persistence in STEM. Many 4-year colleges and universities have the resources and infrastructure to promote student retention and success. However, little is known about the efficacy of these resources for high-achieving, low-income students who transfer from community colleges to complete STEM degrees. The project will investigate if the perceived needs and expectations of STEM transfer students and STEM faculty align with those documented in the literature. It will also explore the intersections of STEM faculty and transfer student perceptions and expectations. The project has the potential to show that aligning the perceived needs and expectations of STEM faculty and transfer students can enhance student persistence in STEM. Evaluation methods include quantitative and qualitative surveys, focus groups, and asset mapping to characterize needs and expectations as well as quantitative data on students and faculty from collaborating institutions. Results of this project will be disseminated at STEM education conferences to advance understanding of factors that influence broadening participation in STEM fields and to encourage additional strategic partnerships that leverage resources between 4-year colleges and universities and community colleges. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.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.