ERIC Number: ED671787
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Nov
Pages: 18
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
The Power of Partnership: Building Strong STEM Transfer Connections. Data Note 5. STEM Transfer Partnership Series
Lia Wetzstein; Jordan Reed; Katie Kovacich; Mayra Nuñez Martinez
Community College Research Initiatives
The need for STEM transfer students from low-income backgrounds to complete bachelor's degrees is a pressing issue. A substantial portion of those students start their educational journey at 2-year colleges. The lack of transfer and completion of these STEM students is deeply rooted in systemic and structural barriers, which leads to many students not completing their degrees (Wang, 2021). Given the multifaceted nature of this problem and how it spans across institutions, inter-institutional transfer partnerships are vital. The STEM Transfer Partnerships (STP), composed of teams of faculty, staff, and administrators, have been working collaboratively to identify and remove barriers at various stages of the transfer process (Cate et al., 2022). Their efforts create smoother pathways for students to earn baccalaureate degrees (Wetzstein et al., 2024). This data note shares the varied efforts of the nine STEM Transfer Partnership teams working together to enhance their partnerships and student outcomes. These case studies exemplify what context-driven changes transfer partnerships can make to enhance transfer students' knowledge, opportunities, experiences, and success. To limit the size of this brief, the authors are sharing one area of each team's work rather than the entirety of their efforts. They also provide a sample of what partnerships can do to improve students' experience, serving as exemplars for practitioners. They built into the STP structure leadership buy-in, the utilization of data and student input to understand barriers and how their changes affect students. The authors find these features critical in the work and discuss their influence on the team's accomplishments in the conclusion.
Descriptors: Partnerships in Education, STEM Education, Low Income Students, Transfer Rates (College), Graduation Rate, College Transfer Students, Enrollment, Faculty, Recruitment, Curriculum, Academic Advising, Educational Innovation, Teamwork, Program Improvement, Student Centered Learning, Data Use, Decision Making, Institutional Role, Leadership Role, Student Personnel Services, Student Personnel Workers, Community Colleges
Community College Research Initiatives. University of Washington, 4333 Brooklyn Avenue NE, UW Tower, T-12, Box 359447, Seattle, WA 98195. Tel: 206-616-0722; e-mail: ccri@uw.edu; Web site: https://www.washington.edu/ccri/
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Ascendium Education Group, Inc.
Authoring Institution: University of Washington, Community College Research Initiatives (CCRI)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A