San Diego City College Academy for STEM Success - A Model Summer Bridge Program Rafael Alvarez San Diego City College MESA Program Director Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Engage, Educate, Empower Female Academy: Circle of Sisters

A Power City College Male Academy: Circle of Brothers

 Background  “How to”: A 3-Day “STEM Culture” Model  Evaluation & Results “A Conversation”

Background Culture Need STEM Academy

Student Interest in STEM Hurtado, S. and Chang, M. (2010). Degrees of Success: Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates among Initial STEM Majors. Higher Education Institute at UCLA.

Degree Completion Hurtado, S. and Chang, M. (2010). Degrees of Success: Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates among Initial STEM Majors. Higher Education Institute at UCLA.

“New” American Dilemma 28.5% - Percentage of underrepresented minority groups in national population (2006) 9.1% - Percentage of underrepresented minority groups among college-educated Americans in science and engineering occupations (academic and non-academic) Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads (2010). National Academy of Sciences.

Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) 8% - Percentage of HSIs among all U.S. postsecondary institutions >50% - Percentage of Latinos enrolled in HSIs among the over 2 million Latinos enrolled in college 25% - Minimum percentage of Latino fulltime equivalent (FTE) enrollment required for HSI status Malcom, L.E. et. al. (2010). (Re)Constructing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Moving Beyond Numbers Toward Student Success.

 Graduates of high schools with low API scores  First generation college students  Economically disadvantaged  Placement into basic skills courses  Lack of necessary social and cultural capital “Color of the sky”: Student Realities

 "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group"  "the characteristic features of everyday existence shared by people in a place or time "  "the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization " What is Culture?

 Model academic support program in STEM, including: Academic support and social integration Professional and leadership development  Established in California in 1970  Currently 68 MESA Programs statewide serve K-12, community college and university students  Thirteen states have adopted MESA model

San Diego City College MESA Program

STEM Academy: Collaborators Rafael Alvarez Director Dr. M. Spradley Dean Dr. L. Perez Counselor Veronica Navallez Counselor Dr. S. Starobin Principal Evaluator Dr. F. Santos Laanan Co-Principal Evaluator Joyce Lui Graduate Research Assoc. Carlos Lopez Graduate Research Assoc.

STEM Academy: Mentors

3-Day Schedule A.M. Training Networking Lunch P.M. Training Industry Exposure Day 1: Culture Day 3: Strengths/Campus Day 2: Learning Strategies

Day 1: Commitment Victims …  Blame others  Complain  Make excuses  Repeat ineffective behavior  “Have to” do things  Pretend their problems belong to others  “Try”  Give up FAILURE Victims seldom achieve goals Creators …  Accept responsibility  Take actions  Seek solutions  Do something new  “Choose to” do things  Own their problems  Commit & follow through  Take control of their choices & their lives! SUCCESS Creators often achieve goals Downing, S. (2009). Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life. Wadsworth, Boston, MA, 6 th Edition.

Cultural Beliefs  Secret to Success (a.k.a. African Village story): “When you find something in life that you want as much as you want to breathe, then you will find the secret to success!”  Capstone for life: The purpose for the learning  Skills  Knowledge  Wisdom  FREEDOM!

Networking Lunch - Daily

Industry Exposure - Daily

Other Day 2 Training  Learning styles  Test taking strategies

Other Day 3 Training  Time management  Test taking strategies  Campus tour: Scavenger hunt led by mentors

Mission Accomplished!

Evaluation Plan  Formative evaluation for program improvement was conducted by Iowa State University research team  Methodology: Use of quantitative and qualitative assessment tools  Questionnaire, with Likert scale, completed daily to determine:  Degree of understanding  Likelihood for applying the training  A focus group was conducted following each STEM Academy

Evaluation Results  Students were very satisfied with the program and the rewarding learning experience in such a short period of time  Interactions with professionals from STEM fields and City College professors helped students to gain a clear vision about their goal and career path  For the majority of students, the Academy experience confirmed their interest in pursuing a career in STEM fields

Evaluation Results (continued)  Some of the students would like to interact more closely with their peers during the 3 day program  All students concluded by saying that they would definitely recommend this program to other recent high school graduates with aspirations to go to college and pursue a career in STEM field

Recommendations  Programmatic – provide shared experience for females and males  Participation – emphasize Academy experience to improve outreach and recruitment  Personalize learning experience – provide opportunities for self-reflection and discussion  Mentors – increase the opportunities for mentors to share their experiences  Evaluation tools – revisit survey design to provide a more refined assessment, and tailor a survey instrument for mentors

Fall 2011 Results – Units Earned

Fall 2011 Results – GPA

Special thanks to the STEM Academy teams at San Diego City College and Iowa State University Comments are appreciated. Please forward to Rafael Alvarez Detailed information for the STEM Academy, including related materials, can be found on the City College website: (Search “stem academy”)

“Following an informed approach”: References 1. Dowd, A.C., Malcom, L.E. & Macias, E.E. (2010). Improving Transfer Access to STEM, Bachelor’s Degrees at Hispanic Serving Institutions through the America COMPETES Act. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California.Improving Transfer Access to STEM, Bachelor’s Degrees at Hispanic Serving Institutions through the America COMPETES Act 2. Frehill, L., DiFabio, N. & Hill, S. (2008). Confronting the "New" American Dilemma - Underrepresented Minorities in Engineering: A Data-Based Look at Diversity. National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering.Confronting the "New" American Dilemma - Underrepresented Minorities in Engineering: A Data-Based Look at Diversity 3. Henderson, P., Psalmonds, E. & Bissell, R. (2010). Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads

“Following an informed approach”: References (continued) 4. Hoffman, E., Starobin, S.S., Santos Laanan, F. & Rivera, M. (2010). Role of Community Colleges in STEM Education: Thoughts on Implications for Policy, Practice and Future Research. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, Volume 16/Issue 1. DOI: /JWomenMinorScienEng.v16.i1Role of Community Colleges in STEM Education: Thoughts on Implications for Policy, Practice and Future Research 5. Hurtado, S., Chang, M., Eagan, K. & Gasiewski, J. (2010). Degrees of Success: Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates among Initial STEM Majors. Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles.Degrees of Success: Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates among Initial STEM Majors 6. Malcom, L.E., Bensimon, E.M. & Dávila, B. (2010). (Re)Constructing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Moving Beyond Numbers Toward Student Success. Ames, IA: Iowa State University(Re)Constructing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Moving Beyond Numbers Toward Student Success