Developmental Summer Bridges
The purpose of this experimental research is to assess the effectiveness of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) sponsored Developmental Summer Bridge (DSB) program model in improving college preparation and success for students who are in need of remediation.
Nationally, there is concern about the need for large numbers of students to enroll in non-credit bearing math and English developmental courses upon entering college. In addition, students often struggle to persist in college when they enter with inadequate basic skills. The state of Texas has not been immune to the challenges presented by underprepared students, leading the Texas legislature to provide funding to the THECB to target at-risk students for participation in DSBs. These programs aim to promote college readiness and reduce or even eliminate the need for developmental education, and they are increasingly viewed as a promising intervention to help students arrive at college in the fall ready to enroll in college-credit bearing classes.
The DSBs developed by colleges and universities throughout the state and funded by the THECB have exactly this purpose in mind. These innovative programs provide an alternative to traditional developmental education, and proponents suggest several reasons why they may be more effective than traditional models in helping students with low basic skills to build competencies and persist in college.
First, accelerated instruction may allow at-risk students to advance through the developmental sequence in a compressed time frame — four to six weeks over the summer, compared with a semester or more during the school year. Further, DSB courses are taught using active, applied, and contextualized learning. By providing opportunities for students to apply the information they are learning and by linking the acquisition of reading, writing, and math skills with a subject that interests them, students may be more engaged and thus better motivated to work harder.
In addition, the DSBs offer an array of support services to ease the transition, both academically and socially, from high school to college. Students are required to attend tutorials and other specialized academic support services (for example, writing or math labs and counseling services). Students are linked with a mentor/counselor and they are also able to form close relationships with their peers and faculty during the compressed, intensive summer time frame. These deeper ties may strengthen students’ academic and social support networks as well as their ties to the institution.
Finally, in addition to social and academic integration, participants become accustomed to the college environment. The transition to college may go more smoothly when students have the “social know-how” to be successful in selecting courses, obtaining needed help, and navigating bureaucracies. This knowledge is often less accessible to traditionally underserved students.
In the summer of 2007, 22 DSBs were funded by the THECB, serving 553 students; in the summer of 2008, 12 programs served about 500 students. In addition, some colleges (for example, Lone Star College) implemented DSBs on their own without special state funding, so the 500 enrollments underestimates the actual participation in the state.
The limited evaluation results that are available indicate that these programs hold promise. But no large-scale, rigorous evaluation has been undertaken. Hence, the results of this evaluation will have both state and national policy implications by providing evidence of the effectiveness of summer bridge programs in accelerating college readiness and promoting student persistence.
NCPR will work closely with participating colleges to recruit students who are defined as “at risk” based on criteria put forth by the legislation that initiated the project and who are likely to be placed into developmental education when they enter college. Students will be chosen by random assignment to participate in the limited number of slots available in these bridge programs. Students participating in DSBs, as well as those not selected (the control group), will be asked to allow researchers to use their transcript data to analyze such key student outcomes as enrollment in college, college placement test scores, need for developmental education, performance in college, and credit accumulation while in college. The results will indicate whether participation in DSBs influenced short- and medium-term student outcomes and lessened the need for remediation.
For more information, contact: Dr. Elisabeth A. Barnett, Senior Research Associate, NCPR, Teachers College, Columbia University:
barnett@tc.edu or 212-678-3719.
ASSOCIATED PRESENTATIONS:
"Developmental Summer Bridges: Young Texans on the Road to College" (Download PDF)
NCPR conference session focusing on the creation of state-supported developmental summer bridge programs in Texas.Conference: League for Innovation in the Community College Annual Conference 2009
Date: March 17, 2009 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Location: Silver State Pavilion, Grand Sierra Hotel, Reno, NV
"Promising Practices in Developmental Summer Bridge Programs" (Download PDF)
NCPR conference session describing developmental summer bridge programs at 8 colleges and universities in Texas.
Conference: League for Innovation in the Community College Annual Conference 2010
Date: March 29, 2010 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Grand Ballroom East and West, Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD
