CSU STEM Collaboratives

Achieving Scale for STEM Reform | Report | Research Team | Background & Goals | Further Resources | Funding

The California State University STEM Collaboratives is a project designed to provide immersive educational experiences to incoming STEM students on eight CSU campuses, with the goal to improve persistence and close achievement gaps. The Pullias Center worked with the CSU to examine the impact of this project on first-year student success in STEM education.

Reports

Journal Articles

Holcombe, E. M., & Kezar, A. (2020). Exploring the Organizational Value of Integrated Transition Programs for Underrepresented College Students. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1726358

Kezar, A., & Holcombe, E. (2019). The Role of Collaboration in Integrated Programs Aimed at Supporting Underrepresented Student Success in STEM. American Behavioral Scientist. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764219869421

Holcombe, E., & Kezar, A. (2019). Ensuring Success Among First-Generation, Low-Income, and Underserved Minority Students: Developing a Unified Community of Support. American Behavioral Scientist. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764219869413

Kezar, A. J., & Holcombe, E. (2018). Challenges of implementing integrated programs for underrepresented students in STEM: A study of the CSU STEM collaboratives. Educational Policy. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818802091

Kezar, A., & Holcombe, E. (2018). Integrated and comprehensive student support programs aimed at historically underserved students: Creating a unified community of support. International Journal of Chinese Education, 7(1), 65-84. https://doi.org/10.1163/22125868-12340090 

Kezar, A., & Holcombe, E. (2018). How organizational silos and bridges shape student success: The CSU STEM collaboratives project. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning. 50(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2018.1483180

Research Team

Adrianna Kezar
Project Lead and Co-Principal Investigator

Elizabeth Holcombe 
Research Assistant

Background

The California State University STEM Collaboratives project is designed to apply grass-roots expertise and strong, continuous evaluation to solve two persistent problems in STEM education: student attrition and institutional inertia. Attrition is steepest at entry, particularly for the students historically underserved by present educational practice: ethnic minorities, those who are eligible for financial aid, and those whose parents didn’t attend college. As reported in 2012 by the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST), most of the students who leave STEM majors do so in the first two years, and while in good academic standing:

“In the United States, fewer than 40% of the students who enter college with the intention of majoring in a STEM field complete a STEM degree. Most of the students who leave STEM fields switch to non-STEM majors after taking introductory science, math, and engineering courses. Many of the students who leave STEM majors are capable of the work, making the retention of students who express initial interest in STEM subjects an excellent group from which to draw some of the additional one million STEM graduates. Many students who transfer out of STEM majors perform well, but they describe the teaching methods and atmosphere in introductory STEM classes as ineffective and uninspiring.”

The same national patterns identified by PCAST appear in the CSU. Fewer than a third of the students who entered the CSU in Fall 2005 declaring majors in STEM had earned STEM degrees six years later. For students from under-represented minority groups (Native American, African American, and Latino) the six-year STEM graduation rate is half that, or 17%. That is, of every six of these students who want STEM degrees, only one will make it. Degree completion rates for other at-risk and differentially-abled groups – even by gender in some STEM disciplines – are similarly disappointing.

Related to the chronic attrition problem is one of institutional inertia. CSU faculty members have worked for decades to improve delivery of STEM education, with repeated concentration on gateway courses in particular. At the same time, CSU universities are national leaders in proven interventions like summer bridge and first-year experiences.

Yet these innovations have defied integration and systemization at scale. Instead they survive on grant money and the goodwill of individual faculty and administrators, making them vulnerable to economic downturns, staffing turnover, or sheer fatigue.

The premise of this project is that the CSU already has all the incoming students and pedagogical evidence that it needs to provide California with an ample and diverse supply of STEM graduates. What’s missing is a new conception of the status quo, with sustained faculty and professional development and other administrative structures that build engaging, evidence-based practices into curriculum, policy, the business model, and day-to-day practice, so that our best work is offered consistently, systematically, and reliably.

Project Design and Research Goals

The California State University STEM Collaboratives project awarded funding from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to eight CSU campuses to test and implement projects incorporating three high-impact educational practices (HIPs): pre-college summer bridge programs, first-year experience courses or programs, and redesigned introductory gateway STEM courses.

By integrating several intervention strategies into one comprehensive program and by integrating projects into existing campus programs and resources, the CSU STEM Collaboratives also aimed to investigate how to make long-term and sustainable changes to the ways universities support STEM student success.

The Pullias Center for Higher Education worked with the CSU and the Helmsley Trust to examine the impact of the project using a mixed-methods study design. The project investigated the following project goals:

1. Increased persistence in STEM majors. Do the projects lead to increased persistence for STEM students?
2. Understand the value of the three interrelated interventions. Are there benefits or advantages of connecting the three interventions? Are different types of integration or connection more beneficial for student success or for project sustainability? Are certain forms or designs of each intervention more successful than others?
3. Understand whether the projects shape or alter campus climates related to student learning and support in STEM fields. How do the projects change values and behaviors within STEM departments? How does this look different across campus sites? What characteristics of project design are associated with different degrees of change?

Publications

Papers

Kezar, A., & Holcombe, E. (2019) The role of collaboration in integrated programs aimed at supporting underrepresented student success in STEM. American Behavioral Scientist, 64(8). https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764219869421 

Kezar, A. J., & Holcombe, E. M. (2018). Challenges of implementing integrated programs for underrepresented students in STEM: A study of the CSU STEM collaboratives. Educational Policy. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818802091 

Kezar, A., & Holcombe, E. (2018). Integrated and comprehensive student support programs aimed at historically underserved students: Creating a unified community of support. International Journal of Chinese Education, 7(1), 65-84. https://doi.org/10.1163/22125868-12340090

Kezar, A., & Holcombe, E. (2018). How organizational silos and bridges shape student success: The CSU STEM collaboratives project. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 50(2), 48-56. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831217746107

Kezar, A., & Holcombe, E. (2018). The promise of comprehensive and integrated college transition programs. Institute of Education Tsinghua University Press.

Kezar, A., & Holcombe, E. (2017). Support for high-impact practices: A new tool for administrators. Liberal Education, 103(1). https://www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/2017/winter/kezar_holcombe

 

Op-Ed

Kezar, A., & Holcombe, E. (2019, January 14). An overlooked solution for diversifying STEM. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/01/14/recommendations-making-stem-education-more-diverse-opinion 

 

Blog Posts 

Holcombe, E. (2018, February 21). Integrating across academic and student affairs to support underrepresented students in STEM: Lessons from the CSU STEM collaboratives. Accelerating Systemic Change Network (ASCN). https://ascnhighered.org/ASCN/posts/200235.html 

Holcombe, E. (2018, March 21). Implementing integrated comprehensive student programs in STEM: Challenges and facilitators from the CSU STEM collaboratives. Accelerating Systemic Change Network (ASCN). https://ascnhighered.org/ASCN/posts/201810.html 

 

Webinar

Holcombe, E. (2018, March 28). Creating a unified community of support: Increasing success for underrepresented students in STEM [Video]. https://ascnhighered.org/ASCN/webinars/community_support/index.html#res 

Funding

The CSU STEM Collaboratives project is funded through a $4.6 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Sub-grants directly to each of the 8 CSU campus project sites fund projects for 30 months to provide a comprehensive and integrated first-year experience to students in STEM fields.