Clear Path - Bachelor's Degree Completion Scholarships

宾夕法尼亚东斯特劳兹堡大学的国家科学基金会（NSF）科学、技术、工程和数学（S-STEM）项目奖学金将提高从社区大学转学到选定STEM领域的学生的及时学士学位结业率。Clear Path项目将包括与利哈伊碳县社区学院、卢塞恩县社区学院和北安普顿县社区学院的合作。转到四年制学位课程的学生往往缺乏关键的先决课程和知识，导致许多学生离开STEM或推迟毕业时间。STEM转学生也不太可能发展校园层面的社会支持或参与高影响力的实践，如本科研究、同伴指导和社区学习。通过Clear Path，合作学校将为在开放环境中接受教育的学生提供队列活动、社会支持和奖学金，以帮助他们及时完成学士学位。该项目将研究社区大学学生在转学前如何参与这些高影响力的实践，从而提高学生的成功程度，如提高保留率和缩短完成学位的时间。奖学金和对学习成绩优秀的学生的支持，将有助于培养训练有素的STEM劳动力，为宾夕法尼亚州和国家的经济增长做出贡献。研究表明，社区学院转学生在STEM专业流失的一个重要原因是，在转专业之前，无论是在先决课程方面，还是在与坚持和成功完成STEM学位相关的技能和行为方面，都没有做好充分的准备。通过Clear Path，有前途的社区大学STEM学生将在他们在社区大学的第一年被确定并招募为项目奖学金。这组学生还将在社区大学期间开始接受支持、培训和指导。社会支持和群体活动有助于培养与大学生成功相关的学业适应心理机制，如毅力和学习行为。将评估与学业成功相关的发展机制如何受到特定的高影响实践的影响。还将对发展机制和学业成绩之间的关系进行多变量检查，无论是否纳入人口统计数据。对队列活动作用的进一步调查将阐明每个活动如何促进学生参与高影响力实践，改善发展机制，并最终导致学业成功。在学生还在社区大学就读时与只有在他们进入四年制大学后才提供资源的好处方面所看到的任何差异也可以进行评估。所有这些发现的信息都可以用来为社区大学和四年制大学的政策和实践提供信息。该项目的调查结果将广泛传播到STEM教育界，并有助于提高对成功学生奖学金和社区大学转学生支持计划的属性和实践的理解。

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) project at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania will increase the timely baccalaureate degree completion rate among students transferring from community college in selected STEM fields. The Clear Path Project will include partnerships with Lehigh Carbon County Community College, Luzerne County Community College, and Northampton County Community College. Students transferring to four-year degree programs frequently lack critical prerequisite coursework and knowledge resulting in many students leaving STEM or slowing their time towards graduation. STEM transfer students are also less likely to develop campus level social support or participate in high impact practices like undergraduate research, peer mentoring and community-based learning. Through Clear Path, the partnering schools will provide cohort activities, social support, and scholarships to students who begin their education in an open access environment to aid in timely baccalaureate degree completion. The project will study how involvement in these high impact practices by community college students prior to transferring leads to improvements in student success such as increased retention and reduced time to degree completion. Scholarships and support for academically strong students, who may not otherwise be able to afford college, will help to produce a well-trained STEM workforce that will contribute to the economic growth of Pennsylvania and the nation.The program organization is informed by research indicating that a significant reason for STEM attrition of community college transfer students is incomplete preparation prior to transfer both in terms of prerequisite courses and the skills and behaviors associated with persistence and success in STEM degree completion. Through Clear Path, promising community college STEM students will be identified and recruited for program scholarships during their first year at community college. This group of students will also begin receiving support, training, and mentoring while still at a community college. The social support and cohort activities will aid in the development of academic adaptive psychological mechanisms, for example, persistence and study behaviors, associated with college student success. How the developmental mechanisms associated with academic success are affected by specific high impact practices will be evaluated. A multivariate examination of the association between the developmental mechanisms and academic achievement, with and without the inclusion of demographic data, will also occur. Further investigation of the role of the cohort activities will clarify how each activity facilitates student participation in high impact practices, improves developmental mechanisms, and results in ultimate academic success. Any differences seen in the benefits of providing resources while students are still enrolled in community college versus only after they matriculate to a four-year institution can also be evaluated. Information from all of these findings can be used to inform policies and practices at community colleges and four-year institutions. The findings from the program will be disseminated widely to the STEM education community and help increase understanding of the attributes and practices of successful student scholarship and support programs for community college transfer students.