Exploring the effects of program development: a comparison of the academic achievement, university retention, and STEM retention of learning community cohorts

The national movement to increase the number of graduates with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors has placed pressure on undergraduate institutions to graduate 34% more STEM students each year. There is also tremendous pressure to retain women and racial/ethnic minorities in STEM majors given they are disproportionately underrepresented in the STEM workforce. In response to national pressure, universities have developed a range of retention programs aiming to support these underrepresented groups. Yet little research has examined whether the programs are associated with positive outcomes, including academic achievement, first-year university retention, and STEM retention. The Achievement In Math and Science (AIMS) learning community at Rutgers University provided a variety of academic interventions to four cohorts of students across four years. As the program developed, recruitment practices were modified, program elements were enhanced, and additional interventions were implemented yearly. This study examined whether the academic achievement, university retention, and STEM retention of successive cohorts improved across program years as the program was enhanced. The statistical analyses demonstrated that cohort was predictive of STEM retention, but not associated with academic achievement or predictive of university retention. This suggests that later program cohorts were more likely to be retained in STEM. Other noteworthy findings indicated that higher math placements were associated with increased academic success, but did not affect the grade point averages (GPAs) of later cohorts, females, and minorities. Additionally, gender was found to be predictive of first-year university retention with females more likely to be retained by the university during their first and second years. This is the first study to analyze different cohorts of the same program while focusing on first-year outcomes and STEM retention. These findings suggest that women and underrepresented minorities, controlling for cohort year, math placement, gender, and ethnicity, can experience academic success and retention rates equal to their peers. The findings identified from this study offer implications for the development of first-year programs that lead to improved retention and academic performance for women and minority groups enrolled in STEM disciplines at the undergraduate level. Namely, early intervention, academic and social integration, and academic skill-building may be essential to the retention of students in the STEM pipeline bringing diverse learners into the STEM workforce.Psy.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Kavita Reshma Kha