Summer Bridge Programs as an Intervention for College Retention (original) (raw)
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Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 2020
This longitudinal study evaluated the efficacy of a summer bridge program (SBP) and other support services on college graduation rates at a small liberal arts school in Purchase, NY. Financially disadvantaged students (n = 136) receiving a scholarship and a summer bridge curriculum within the Manhattanville Achievement Program were compared to students who received Pell Grants but did not receive the summer bridge program (n = 1,293) from 2008–2014. Outcomes assessed included graduation at 4 years and 6 years post-enrollment, GPA, and demographic characteristics of those who were more likely to graduate. Results indicated that enrollment in the SBP predicted a greater likelihood to graduate at 4 and 6 years while enrollment in the SBP did not predict higher GPA at either 4 or 6 years post-enrollment. Consistent with national trends, men were less likely to graduate than women. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Summer Start: Supporting Success for Conditionally Admitted Students in a Summer Bridge Program
2017
Summer bridge programs on college campuses vary in terms of focus, activities, and the students they serve. Common goals include enhancing enrollment and diversity, and improving retention rates and timely graduation through better preparation of the admitted class. In 2016, Purdue University piloted “Summer Start,” a credit-bearing, five-week program for conditionally admitted students that includes enhanced support services. These students did not qualify for the traditional fall admission because their profiles included at-risk characteristics (such as low high school GPA or low standardized test score), so they were admitted on the condition that they attended Summer Start. To gauge the impact of Summer Start, we compared the conditionally admitted students to a nearly comparable at-risk group of new beginner students who started in the fall semester. While the first-semester performance of these conditionally admitted students was slightly below that of the near-comparison grou...
This longitudinal study assesses the impact of the University of Arizona’s New Start Summer Program (NSSP) on participants’ first year GPA and retention, controlling for incoming student characteristics. While programmatic participation significantly predicted first-year GPA and retention, this relationship became insignificant when controlling for first-year college experiences and student development. Programmatic efficacy is largely determined not only by how practitioners develop participants’ cognitive abilities, but also how effectively they connect them to social and academic support networks during their first year of college. Within this context, programmatic impact is likely indirect which poses a number of methodological and resource allocation issues for student affairs administrators and professionals. In addition, it highlights the need to assess the impact of summer bridge programs longitudinally while also having a demographically similar group of students who did not participate for comparison: Two areas generally absent from research on summer bridge program literature. Finally, the study was made possible because of a strong collaboration between the NSSP administrators and the research team, where the goals and needs of each group were supported by the other.
American Behavioral Scientist, 2011
Summer bridge programs (SBPs) are increasingly popular in higher education as a strategy for helping students prepare for college, yet empirical studies in this area have remained largely descriptive and in short supply. The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of SBP participation on preparation for college in four areas: academic self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and academic and social skills. Survey data from a SBP cohort were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate statistics. Results suggest that SBP participation positively affects specific academic skills (e.g., use of technology, interpreting syllabus) and academic self-efficacy. Positive beliefs about one's academic skills and precollege aptitude also positively predict first-semester grades in college, explaining approximately 30% of the variance in first-semester GPA. Implications for further research, federal and institutional policy, and educational practice are highlighted.
A Good Start?: The Impact of Texas’ Developmental Summer Bridge Program on Student Success
The Journal of Higher Education, 2016
Summer bridge programs have long been utilized by postsecondary institutions to improve the college readiness of students; however, the research on their effectiveness is limited. This study presents evidence from an experimental study of one summer bridge program model specifically designed for recent high school graduates who placed into developmental education. The program took place at eight open access colleges in Texas during the summer of 2009, and participants were followed for two academic years. To provide needed context, we first describe site selection, random assignment, and program implementation. Quantitative results indicate that the program had no effect on the average number of credits attempted and earned or student persistence in postsecondary education. The program did have an impact on first college-level course completion in math (p < 0.05) and to a lesser extent writing (p < 0.10); there was no impact on first college-level course completion in reading. Our findings are consistent with those of other rigorously evaluated programs for developmental education students and suggest that persistence in postsecondary education is a complex issue that cannot be solved with any one program.
This quasi-experimental, action-research study explored a five-week pre-enrollment initiative called the Pathways Summer Bridge (PSB) Program in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU). Theoretically framed and developed using the six components of Tinto's (1993) longitudinal model of institutional departure, the PSB Program had as its ultimate goal to improve the re-enrollment and retention rates of academically underprepared first-year students who were predominately from first-generation and underrepresented populations. Results indicate that participants' confidence about college expectations and their sense of belonging were higher than a control group of traditional first-year students, and their re-enrollment rates were higher than campus and university averages.