Adoption and implementation of high impact practices provides the best chance to effect positive change.  Several practices have been shown to have a large impact on the success of students of color.  In this blog, we will outline these high impact practices.

“Common courses, common readings, and integration of learning across courses involve students with thought process beyond the classroom.” 

Peters, Tisdale, & Swinton, 2019

Learning communities “are the purposeful restructuring of an undergraduate curriculum to thematically link or cluster courses and to enroll a common group of students in… courses” (MacGregor & Smith, 2005, p. 2). STEM learning communities provide programming designed to enhance the academic and social aspects of STEM disciplines. They may include online classes, co-residency housing arrangements, and/or organized research groups, all designed to integrate the academic and social experiences in a STEM degree program. Research has shown that students who participate in learning communities have higher GPAs and graduation rates, are more academically engaged, and have greater self-confidence in their academic ability (see Carrino & Gerace, 2016). Learning communities improve retention of underrepresented student populations by increasing student involvement and engagement in higher education institutions as well as contribute to stronger student connections to other students and faculty. Tinto’s (2008) interactionalist model of individual student departure posits that academic social cohesion, perhaps stemming from participation in learning communities, can increase mutual responsibility and thereby reduce student dropout. The University of Central Florida EXCEL Program, an NSF-sponsored STEM learning community model, has been shown to increase first-year and long-term retention and graduation rates, and specifically benefit women and African American and Hispanic students (Dagley, Georgiopoulos, Reece & Young, 2016). The research-focused LEARN program at another large university showed positive effects on first-year undergraduate student critical-thinking skills (Schneider, Bickel & Morrison-Shetlar, 2015). 

References and additional resources

Carrino, S. S., & Gerace, W. J. (2016). Why STEM Learning Communities Work: The Development of Psychosocial Learning Factors through Social Interaction. Learning Communities: Research & Practice, 4(1), 3.

Dagley, M., Georgiopoulos, M., Reece, A., & Young, C. (2016). Increasing retention and graduation rates through a STEM learning community. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 18(2), 167-182.

Johnson, D. R. (2011). Examining sense of belonging and campus racial diversity experiences among women of color in STEM living-learning programs. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 17(3).

Kendricks, K. D., Arment, A. A., Nedunuri, K. V., & Lowell, C. A. (2019). Aligning Best Practices in Student Success and Career Preparedness: An Exploratory Study to Establish Pathways to STEM Careers for Undergraduate Minority Students. Journal of Research in Technical Careers, 3(1), 27.

Laufgraben, J. L. (2005). Learning communities. In M. Upcraft, B. O. Barefoot & J. N. Gardner (Eds.), Challenging and supporting the first-year student: A handbook for improving the first year of college. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 

MacGregor, J., & Smith, B. L. (2005). Where are Learning Communities? Now: National Leaders Take Stock. About Campus, 10(2), 2-8.

Palmer, R. T., Maramba, D. C., & Dancy, T. E. (2011). A qualitative investigation of factors promoting the retention and persistence of students of color in STEM. The Journal of Negro Education, 491-504.

Peters, A. W., Tisdale, V. A., & Swinton, D. J. (2019). High-impact educational practices that promote student achievement in STEM. Broadening Participation in STEM (Diversity in Higher Education) 22, 183-196.

Tinto, V. (2008). Learning better together: The impact of learning communities on the persistence of low-income students. In Opportunity Matters.