Collaborative Planning Grant: Building Capacity to Scale the Mentoring Math Scholars for Success Program

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This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by strengthening collaborations and planning for a future Track 3 S-STEM proposal that would support the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at three Hispanic-Serving Institutions in the California State University system: Cal State East Bay, Fresno State, and Stanislaus State University. These three institutions serve a significant number of students who, although Pell Grant eligible, need to work long hours to afford college. As a result, low-income students graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics in six years on average, despite having the mathematical talent to graduate sooner. The current Mentoring Math Scholars for Success (M2S2) program, funded through a Track 2 S-STEM award (1742236) at Fresno State is showing that students can graduate in four years and with a GPA of 3.0+ with the appropriate suite of supports, including scholarships, mentoring, and community-building activities. This planning effort aims to build the capacity to improve and scale the M2S2 model to Cal State East Bay and Stanislaus State in a way that will serve the unique student populations at each institution. Student focus groups and surveys will be conducted to advance understanding of how students at each institution can best be supported by an M2S2 program. A planning meeting with representatives from all three institutions will use results from these surveys and the M2S2 model at Fresno State to develop a shared vision of the multi-campus M2S2 program.The overall goal of this project is to strengthen collaborations and prepare for a future Track 3 proposal to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The main component of the evaluation of this project will be to make sure that a competitive Track 3 S-STEM proposal is written and submitted, with appropriate modification to the M2S2 program that aligns with the needs of each institution’s potential scholars. This project will develop research questions and identify data streams to support an effective research program centered on M2S2 as it is deployed across the three participating institutions. An important goal of this project is to identify the precise needs of students at each campus and to generate a plan to ensure the parallel implementation of M2S2 can both (1) help low-income students succeed in the mathematics major, and (2) provide guidelines that other institutions can follow to improve supports offered for low-income students. 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.