2018 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference

Impact of First-Year Initiatives on Retention of Students: Are There Differences in Retention of Students by Ethnicity and Gender?

Presented at Undergraduate Track - Session V

Project Succeed is a campus-wide initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Its focus is to improve the 5-year graduation and retention rates and close the achievement gap for Under-Represented Minorities (URMs) across all majors at San José State University (SJSU). In addition, SJSU has a high percent of first generation students. We have several thrusts under this project: block scheduling, Faculty/Staff Mentor program, expanding Peer Educators, developing a First Year Experience Program, and developing more student living learning communities. This project is in its fourth year and we have analyzed each project effort with respect to its impact on the retention of freshmen and sophomore students. In this paper, we will analyze the overall results of our efforts as well as describe the retention rates of URM students in our project. We will compare the retention of students participating in block scheduling with students not active in our project to see if there are differences in retention and academic performance for engineering majors.

Authors

Dr. Patricia R. Backer San Jose State University [biography]

Dr. Backer been a faculty at SJSU since 1990 and held positions as an assistant professor, associate professor, professor, department chair, and director. Currently, Dr. Backer serves as the PI for the Title III Strengthening grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Joseph Green WestEd
Dr. Bryan Matlen WestEd [biography]

Bryan Matlen Ph.D. is a Senior Research Associate in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Program at WestEd. Bryan explores how cognitive science-based strategies can be applied to support learning and inform instructional decision making.

Bryan currently serves as Principal Investigator (PI) of the IES-funded project "Exploring the Spatial Alignment Hypothesis in STEM Disciplines," which investigates optimal ways in which to design STEM visuals, and he is also co-PI of the NSF-funded project "An Instructional Complexity Approach to the Science of Learning by Analogy," which explores how analogical principles interact to support learning in mathematics classrooms.

Bryan is also a senior methodologist for several large-scale efficacy studies at WestEd, and he leads formative and summative evaluations of educational technology products.

Bryan completed his undergraduate degree at the University of California Davis, received his doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University. He publishes regularly in cognitive science and educational journals.
Ms. Cindy Kato San Jose State University [biography]

Ms. Kato has served as Director of Academic Advising and Retention Services at SJSU since 2006, overseeing registration of first semester freshmen. She manages the Block Scheduling initiative as well as the database of the Title III Strengthening grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

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