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EPSC Lab Presentation by Sabrina Solanki
"Do Learning Communities Work in STEM Education? Evaluating the Impact of the EASE Program on Student Success" December 5, 2018 12:00-1:00 pm Education 2005 Abstract Low rates of STEM persistence in college have called upon researchers, policymakers, and higher education administrators to consider and evaluate effective, evidence-based solutions. Although an extensive theoretical literature and qualitative evidence points to learning communities as a promising strategy to improve persistence and academic success in college, rigorous quantitative evidence on the impacts of these programs in STEM education is limited. This study fills a gap in research literature and provides an evaluation of a learning communities program for incoming biological sciences majors at a large public university in California. The program – the Enhanced Academic Student Experience initiative (EASE) – groups hundreds of incoming biological sciences majors into cohorts of 30, co-enrolls these student cohorts in all first-year Biology and Chemistry courses, and provides participants with study skills support, increased academic counseling, and weekly meetings with a mentor. Selection into the program is determined by a strict cutoff on SAT math scores, which provides an opportunity to assess the impact of EASE with a regression discontinuity design (RD). Both short and long-term impacts on academic outcomes will be discussed, in addition to the impact of EASE on improving the student experience in college. Comments are closed.
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