PRIMER (Pre-transfer interventions, mentoring, and experiences with research): Using multilayered interventions to improve transfer student success Grant uri icon

abstract

  • Overview Transfer students frequently leave university at higher rates, and with lower GPAs, than traditional university students. The reasons for this lower success rate have been determined to include both academic and social factors. Thus, a holistic approach is necessary to increase the retention and success of transfer students. Multilayered, evidence-based interventions in the form of pre-transfer interventions, mentoring, and experience with research (PRIMER) will be offered in isolation and combination to better support and retain Biology transfer students at East Carolina University (ECU). The overall goal of PRIMER is to promote transfer student success, resulting in higher academic achievement, increased retention and persistence in STEM fields, and a greater sense of community at ECU by transfer students. Two specific primary objectives of this project include: 1) A facilitated transition between the transfer institution and ECU, and 2) Increased transfer student use of known best practices at ECU. Strategies to meet the first objective include increased exposure of transfer students to ECU academic life while still at their institution of origin through dual enrollment courses, enhanced knowledge of the transfer process through dual advising, and increased social supports for students before transfer through cohort classes and inclusion in ECU events. Strategies to meet the second objective include the implementation of a mentoring program and targeted research experiences specifically for ECU Biology transfer students. Intellectual Merit By testing these interventions in isolation and combination, and contrasting treatment groups to comparison groups, the knowledge base of the potential interactive effects of these best practices will increase substantially. The outcome of our interventions will serve as a test of the expansion of Schlossberg's Transition Theory to transfer student transitions. This theory describes four S's (situation, self, support, and strategies) that are necessary for successful transitions. In addition, the success of our interventions will provide a test of Astin's theory of involvement, in which students' backgrounds and experiences at university influence a student's ability to achieve academic success. Broader Impacts An increasing percentage of students at universities have transferred from another institution. Improving the success of transfer students will help diversity the STEM workforce and improve the STEM pipeline since many transfer students are people of color or first-generation university students from economically distressed areas. If the PRIMER interventions are successful, they could be rolled out to other STEM departments at ECU, to other community colleges, and to other four-year institutions. The impact of these interventions will be disseminated through a pre-existing, annual, regional Transfer Student Summit, as well as through national presentations and publications. The focus of the project dissemination will be on which interventions provided the greatest benefit, and for what demographic of student, with the goal of helping institutions focus their limited resources on the interventions most likely to produce their desired outcome. This information should provide useful guidance to any university trying to improve transfer student success.

date/time interval

  • October 2018 - September 2022