| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | September 21, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | October 11, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1161228 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Mike Ferrara
mferrara@nsf.gov (703)292-2635 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2020 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,799,943.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,799,943.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2014 = $372,420.00 FY 2017 = $364,735.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4000 CENTRAL FLORIDA BLVD ORLANDO FL US 32816-8005 (407)823-0387 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
12201 Research Pkway, Suite 501 Orlando FL US 32826-3252 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): |
S-STEM-Schlr Sci Tech Eng&Math, STEP-STEM Talent Expansn Pgm, IUSE |
| Primary Program Source: |
04001415DB NSF Education & Human Resource 1300XXXXDB H-1B FUND, EDU, NSF |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
This STEP Type 1B Project (compass: Convincing Outstanding-Math-Potential Admits to Succeed in STEM) is implementing a sustainable model for recruiting freshman students into STEM majors and helping them to persist in STEM to a bachelor's degree. Towards this goal, the main objectives are:
- Recruit new freshmen with strong SAT mathematics scores who are undeclared majors into enrolling in the COMPASS STEM Explorations course, offered in both the fall and spring, and convince them to choose a STEM major by the end of their freshman year by reinforcing the course with additional experiences (described in the next paragraph);
- Retain a majority of the recruited majors in STEM through graduation; and
- Determine how career interest and career readiness assessments influence student choice of STEM majors and retention in STEM through graduation in order to improve this model.
Undeclared majors entering college for the first time are encouraged at orientation to register for a course in Career Planning. All registered students with high mathematics SAT scores are placed into the STEM section of this course called Explorations in STEM Careers, which teaches self-assessment, explores the world-of-work with STEM specifics, and provides experiential learning through job shadowing. Following course completion, more extensive job shadowing experiences are offered, followed up by sophomore undergraduate research experiences and industrial internships. These experiences are intended to develop and strengthen participating students' emerging identities as scientists and engineers. The COMPASS learning community is supported by a network of mentors made up of peers, graduate students, staff, faculty, administrators, and industrial STEM professionals.
This Type 1B model expects to produce 473 more degrees during the grant's lifetime. The institutionalization of the project's activities has the potential to sustain a gain of 95 additional STEM degrees per year after the grant is completed.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The goal of COMPASS (Convincing Outstanding-Math-Potential Admits to Succeed in STEM) was to increase the number of STEM degree recipients at UCF by implementing a sustainable model of first recruiting students into STEM disciplines and then positively influencing them to persist in STEM, thus increasing the number of scientists and engineers in the workforce. The four main objectives of the UCF COMPASS efforts were: (1) (Recruit): Annually recruit at least 400 undecided first-time-in-college students with math SAT scores higher than 550 into the COMPASS STEM Explorations Career Planning course. (2) (Capture): Have 75% of the recruited COMPASS students declare a STEM major by the end of their freshman year. (3) (Retain): Retain 65% of these students in the STEM disciplines, until graduation. (4) (Research): Determine how career interest and career readiness assessments correlate to students selecting and being successful in STEM.
Prior to COMPASS implementation, the percent of undecided students who declared STEM on their own was about 28% and of those approximately half would remain in STEM to graduation. There were high percentages of underrepresented groups (URG) in the undecided population (women 45%, African American and Hispanic 22%) which led to the expectation of higher numbers of URG student declaring in STEM, an issue important to the diversity of the STEM workforce. COMPASS intended to increase the STEM declaration rate to 75% and then move the STEM graduation of those students from 45% to a target of 65%. To achieve these increases, COMPASS offered a STEM Explorations Career Planning course in the student?s first semester. This course helped students determine ?Who they are,? ?Where they are going,? and ?How they will get there? while gaining clarity on strengths and interests through facilitated self-discovery and exposure to science and engineering careers. Simultaneously, to retain students in a STEM field, a learning community environment was created involving proactive advising, cohort-based math and science courses with tutoring, peer mentors and block housing on campus.
Exactly 2,147 students participated in COMPASS throughout the award period. Of those participating in the STEM Explorations course, 79% declared in a STEM major with 46% of those identifying as women, 7% African American and 23% Hispanic, meeting both goals of more STEM students and increasing diversity in the pipeline. At the end of the grant period, 60% of those students committing to a STEM major were retained or graduating in STEM. Though slightly lower than the 65% goal set at the beginning of the program, the retention and graduation rates have improved with each cohort year and show a 33% increase over the baseline (45%) prior to the program?s existence.
The research on career interest and career readiness focused on data collected from the COMPASS participants and STEM comparison group using the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI). The most significant results included:
- Students who participated in a STEM-focused career planning class were approximately three times more likely to be retained in a STEM major from their first to second year of college.
- Models accurately predicted first-year to second-year retention with 73.4% of the cases and accurately predicted first-year to third-year retention with 70% of the cases.
- The career planning group (i.e., initially undecided) had a larger decrease in negative career thoughts than the STEM comparison group (i.e., initially STEM declared).
- Higher scores on math variables (SAT Math scores or UCF Math Placement Test Algebra subtest scores) consistently predicted higher odds of STEM success.
- Higher odds of STEM retention for ethnic minority students. This is uncommon for African American and Hispanic students in particular, which could be an indicator that COMPASS initiatives contributed to better retention outcomes for these students.
- Larger decreases in CTI scores (i.e., larger reductions in negative career thinking) significantly predicted increased odds of STEM retention.
- Importance of STEM faculty guest lectures and lab visits in providing meaningful opportunities to learn more about specific STEM fields and to make career decisions.
Effective Fall 2020 the COMPASS program was institutionalized by UCF. With an annual recruitment goal of 200 students this will result in an extra 30 STEM graduates annually. Institutionalized components include the STEM Explorations Career Planning course and peer mentors. For all other components (math classes, advising, tutoring, living learning community, research) the students will be included in the existing EXCEL (formerly NSF funded) program.
The COMPASS award was the catalyst for the creation of UCF?s Center for Initiatives in STEM (iSTEM), an effort of the primary STEM colleges (Engineering and Computer Science (CECS), Sciences (COS)) with a core mission to promote and enhance collaborative efforts on STEM education and educational research. iSTEM has incorporated the Colleges of Medicine (COM), Optics and Photonics (COP) and Community Innovation and Education (CCIE) into the collaboration and provided impact on human resources through the creation of better STEM educators and development of K-20 STEM students.
Last Modified: 01/27/2021
Modified by: Melissa Dagley
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
