Retention and Success of Underrepresented Minorities in STEM at University of Massachusetts Boston: A Pilot Study of the Impact of Freshman Success Communities

Today’s college graduates are facing a complex world in which the demand for a sophisticated skill set is ever increasing; this is even more salient in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Therefore, the success of students majoring in STEM appears critical for meeting the market demand for such degrees. Unfortunately, current rates of success in STEM suggest that there are a number of challenges impeding STEM major completion, particularly for underrepresented minorities. In the academic year 2011, the share of underrepresented minorities (URM) receiving STEM degrees in the University of Massachusetts system was 8.7%. In the 15- campus Massachusetts community college system, this same figure was 12.1%. In Fall 2009, the College of Science and Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts Boston started the Freshman Success Communities program to improve the experience and academic outcomes of its increasingly diverse population. This pilot study is an exploratory investigation of the program’s impact, especially on URM. It aims to illuminate the experiences of underrepresented minorities in order to generate insights to support the retention and success of such students. Findings reveal that these learning communities have a positive influence in URM students’ performance and academic experience. There appears to be a modest difference in academic achievement between URM and non-URM program participants