Evaluation of a Summer Bridge: Critical Component of the Leadership 2.0 Program

One STEM bridge program examined preparedness for precalculus, another assessed students' sense of preparedness regarding future STEM courses, and two focused on preparedness for college in general.

“One program examined preparedness for precalculus (Raines, 2012), another program assessed students’ sense of preparedness regarding future STEM courses (Pritchard et al., 2016), and two programs focused on preparedness for college in general (Russomanno et al., 2010; Tomasko et al., 2013, 2016).”

Three additional STEM bridge programs measured student interest and reported increasing student interest, though this was not an explicit goal.

“Three additional bridge programs measured student interest and reported increasing student interest, though this was not an explicit goal of those programs (Russomanno et al., 2010; Lenaburg et al., 2012; Pritchard et al., 2016).”

Three STEM bridge programs used students as a comparison group without controlling for other variables such as gender, race/ethnicity, or prior academic ability that could predict retention differences.

“However, three programs used students as a comparison group to bridge students without controlling for other variables such as gender, race/ethnicity, or prior academic ability that could predict retention differences between the two groups (Chevalier et al., 2001; Citty and Lindner, 2012; Pritchard et al., 2016).”

Of the four STEM bridge programs that measured networking with faculty, two measured it by coding for themes of students networking with faculty from one-on-one or focus group interview data.

“Of the four programs that measured this goal, two programs measured this by coding for themes of students networking with faculty from one-on-one or focus group interview data (Maton et al., 2000; Pritchard et al., 2016), while the other two programs issued a postprogram survey with questions about the extent to which students met and networked with faculty (Thompson and Consi, 2007; Lenaburg et a”

Another STEM bridge program measured student interest by interviewing nursing students after the program and coding the interviews; 92% of students were more interested in nursing after the program.

“Another program measured student interest by interviewing nursing students after the program and coding the interviews for student interest; 92% of students were more interested in nursing after the program (Pritchard et al., 2016).”

Three STEM bridge programs measured sense of preparedness through a single post survey question.

“Three programs measured this through a single post survey question (Russomanno et al., 2010; Raines, 2012; Pritchard et al., 2016), while the fourth program used a pre–post survey design, although they only provided the post survey score in the published report (Tomasko et al., 2013, 2016).”

Two STEM bridge programs conducted one-on-one or focus group interviews with bridge students, analyzed interviews for themes of belonging, and used survey items for identifying a sense of community.

“Two of these programs conducted one-on-one or focus group interviews with bridge students and analyzed interviews for themes of belonging and used survey items for identifying a sense of community (Maton et al., 2000, 2012; Stolle-McAllister, 2011; Stolle-McAllister et al., 2011; Pritchard et al., 2016).”