San Diego City College Academy for STEM Success

1. 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

2. Engage, Educate, Empower Female Academy: Circle of Sisters

3. A Power Community @ City College Male Academy: Circle of Brothers

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

5. Background Need STEM Academy Culture

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. “New” American Dilemma 28.5% - Percentage of underrepresented minority groupsin 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.

9. 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.

10. “Color of the sky”: Student Realities • 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

11. What is Culture? • "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 <popular culture>" • "the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization <a corporate culture>"

12. 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

13. San Diego City College MESA Program Culture of Success Language of Success STEM

15. 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-PrincipalEvaluator Joyce Lui Graduate Research Assoc. Carlos Lopez GraduateResearch Assoc.

16. STEM Academy: Mentors

18. 3-Day Schedule A.M. Training Day 1: Culture Networking Lunch Day 2: Learning Strategies P.M. Training Day 3: Strengths/Campus Industry Exposure

19. Victims … • Blame others • Complain • Make excuses • Repeat ineffective behavior • “Have to” do things • Pretend their problems belong to others • “Try” • Give up • 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! FAILURE Victims seldom achieve goals SUCCESS Creators often achieve goals Day 1: Commitment Downing, S. (2009). Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life. Wadsworth, Boston, MA, 6th Edition.

20. 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!

23. Networking Lunch - Daily

24. Industry Exposure - Daily

27. Other Day 2 Training • Learning styles • Test taking strategies

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

30. Mission Accomplished!

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. Fall 2011 Results – Units Earned

36. Fall 2011 Results – GPA

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

38. “Following an informed approach”:References • 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. • 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. • 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.

39. “Following an informed approach”:References (continued) • 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: 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v16.i1 • 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. • 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