TY - JOUR
T1 - Is an Early Start the Best Start?
T2 - Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Political Science Summer Bridge Program
AU - Woodall, Gina Serignese
AU - Herrera, Richard
AU - Thompson, Joshua R.
AU - Ortega, Jorge Coss
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the College of Liberal Arts and Science at Arizona State University for funding the majority of the Early Start program. We are also grateful to the School of Politics and Global Studies for supplementing the budget.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2017/10/2
Y1 - 2017/10/2
N2 - Summer bridge programs are supposed to connect a graduating high school senior’s summer to their first semester in college, easing the transition away from home and into a university setting. Although research is plentiful on the programs, assessments regarding the overall effectiveness of such programs have been mixed (e.g., Cabrera, Miner, and Milem 2013; Douglas and Attewell 2014; Grayson 2003). As Cabrera, Miner, and Milem (2013) note, many of the studies collect data from participants in a one-time satisfaction survey and/or do not have an equivalent group of students who did not participate in the program from which to compare effectiveness. Our proposed study mitigates these flaws by employing a nonequivalent-groups quasi-experiment (NEG). Our bridge program—called Early Start (ES)— tapped into social, emotional, and academic engagement, as we sought to integrate the students into the university and school communities while holding high expectations and actively involving them in their own learning (Tinto 2004). Results suggest that not only were students enrolled in our program better socially and emotionally integrated into the university during their first year but they also scored better on content-based political science questions at the end of the fall semester, compared to their non-Early Start peers. Finally, aggregated data indicate an increase in retention for Early Start participants.
AB - Summer bridge programs are supposed to connect a graduating high school senior’s summer to their first semester in college, easing the transition away from home and into a university setting. Although research is plentiful on the programs, assessments regarding the overall effectiveness of such programs have been mixed (e.g., Cabrera, Miner, and Milem 2013; Douglas and Attewell 2014; Grayson 2003). As Cabrera, Miner, and Milem (2013) note, many of the studies collect data from participants in a one-time satisfaction survey and/or do not have an equivalent group of students who did not participate in the program from which to compare effectiveness. Our proposed study mitigates these flaws by employing a nonequivalent-groups quasi-experiment (NEG). Our bridge program—called Early Start (ES)— tapped into social, emotional, and academic engagement, as we sought to integrate the students into the university and school communities while holding high expectations and actively involving them in their own learning (Tinto 2004). Results suggest that not only were students enrolled in our program better socially and emotionally integrated into the university during their first year but they also scored better on content-based political science questions at the end of the fall semester, compared to their non-Early Start peers. Finally, aggregated data indicate an increase in retention for Early Start participants.
KW - College freshmen retention
KW - college retention
KW - political science bridge programs
KW - political science retention
KW - summer bridge programs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85031507828&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85031507828&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/15512169.2017.1358174
DO - 10.1080/15512169.2017.1358174
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85031507828
SN - 1551-2169
VL - 13
SP - 447
EP - 463
JO - Journal of Political Science Education
JF - Journal of Political Science Education
IS - 4
ER -