Pathway to STEM Success: Improving Access and Success and Closing Equity Gaps in College-level Math in a State Community College System

该项目旨在通过提高社区学院学生在入门数学课程中的成功率，并为支持这一成功的有效做法的知识基础做出贡献，从而为国家利益服务。 认识到当前发展教育方法在促进学生数学成功方面的局限性，来自加州-欧文大学、弗吉尼亚社区学院系统（VCCS）的研究人员和实践者组成的研究与实践伙伴关系（RPP）团队，和特拉华州大学计划调查一项VCCS倡议，旨在改革对来自没有准备好的高中的学生的支持足够上大学。虽然目前的改革集中在发展教育的一个元素，但正在研究的RPP工作正在实施一种更全面的方法，以支持这些学生通过入门数学的进步。 VCCS计划包括三个组成部分，确定需要支持的学生，通过共同必修的课程提供并行的学术支持，并提供积极的咨询和辅导。 三项研究将检查这一努力的效果：（1）改革实施研究，以记录改革如何在每个机构实施和遇到的挑战;（2）改革影响研究，以检查改革对学生入门数学成果的影响，以及下游STEM途径的成功和远端成果，包括学位获得和劳动力市场表现;以及（3）数学教学研究，以探讨提供共同必要的支持和教学方法的具体方式是否与更好的学生成绩和更小的种族差距有关。 研究计划亦计划探讨各院校在推行改革时，如何因应新冠疫情带来的挑战，以及这些改革会否持续至可见的未来，以及在推行课程形式方面，哪些教学方法能有效地促进学生在数学方面取得成功。混合方法研究设计与项目目标、研究方法和分析保持一致。香港资源增值计划小组会透过调查、有针对性的访问和行政数据收集数据，并计划应用一个全面的发展教育架构来分析和诠释数据。 结果将被用来通知在VCCS的直接招生改革，并应生成的知识，其他机构可以用来通知他们的努力，以提高学生的成功，特别是当进入和网关数学课程的完成构成挑战。 NSF关于在两年制高等教育机构中推进本科STEM教育的创新和影响的项目描述支持在两年制大学中推进STEM教育计划的项目。该计划描述促进了两年制大学本科STEM教育的创新和循证实践。 该项目还得到了NSF IUSE-HSI项目的B支持，该项目的目标是提高本科STEM教育的质量，并提高攻读STEM副学士或学士学位的学生的招聘，保留和毕业率。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估而被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing the success rates of community college students in gateway mathematics courses and contributing to the knowledge base on effective practices which support that success. Recognizing the limitations of current developmental education approaches to fostering student success in mathematics, the research and practice partnership (RPP) team of researchers and practitioners from the University of California – Irvine, the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), and the University of Delaware plan to investigate a VCCS initiative designed to reform the support to students who come from high schools that did not prepare them adequately for college. While current reforms focus on one element of developmental education, the RPP effort under study is implementing a more comprehensive approach to support these students as they progress through gateway mathematics. The VCCS initiative includes three components, identifying students who need support, providing concurrent academic support through co-requisite coursework, and providing proactive advising and coaching. Three studies will examine the effects of this effort: (1) a Reform Implementation Study to document how the reform is implemented at each institution and challenges encountered; (2) a Reform Impact Study to examine the impact of the reform on student gateway math outcomes, as well as downstream STEM pathway success and distal outcomes including degree attainment and labor market performance; and (3) a Math Instruction Study to explore whether specific ways of delivering the co-requisite support and teaching approaches are associated with better student outcomes and smaller racial gaps in gateway mathematics. The RPP also plans to examine how colleges responded to challenges presented by the ongoing COVID pandemic when implementing the reform, whether these changes will persist into the foreseeable future, and what teaching practices are effective in promoting math success by course delivery format. The mixed methods research design is well aligned with project goals, research methodologies, and analyses. The RPP team will collect data through surveys, targeted interviews, and administrative data ans plans to apply a comprehensive developmental education framework to analyze and interpret the data. The results will be used to inform the Direct Enrollment Reform at VCCS and should generate knowledge that other institutions may use to inform their efforts to improve student success, particularly when entry into and completion of gateway mathematics courses pose challenges. The NSF program description on Advancing Innovation and Impact in Undergraduate STEM Education at Two-year Institutions of Higher Education supports projects that advance STEM education initiatives at two-year colleges. The program description promotes innovative and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges. This project is also supported b the NSF IUSE-HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.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.