EOP Transfer Bridge Program
Introduction
• Majority of low-income, first
generation students attend
Community College.
• Local colleges offer
services/benefits not found at
four year institutions
• Yet few transfer to UC or CSU
system
Introduction
• Community Colleges are vital
avenues for access
• Benefits of a college:
– Proved lower division courses
– Open admissions
– Small classes
– Personalized attention
Introduction
• Transfer students face myriad of
challenges
–
–
–
–
Size of the campus
Faculty expectations
Campus culture
More expensive
• Occurrence has been studied and
identified
• Transfer Shock—disconnection
between student and university
Introduction
• Rational for hosting Transfer Bridge
Program
• EOP has seen the results and affects
of TB
• However it has been difficult to
prove success
• Assessment tool was created to
measure Program’s effectiveness
• Mixed methods tool
Introduction
• Purpose and goals of the Presentation
– Program description
– Transfer Bridge Staff
– Mission Statement
– Program Goals
– Program Learning Outcomes
– Theoretical Framework
– Quantitative Assessment
– Qualitative Assessment
– Conclusion
Program Overview
• Program assists new transfer students that
come from low-income, first-generation
backgrounds adjust to the academic and
student life at SDSU through a series of
workshops designed to prepare them for
their successful transition to the university.
• 1-week long summer intensive program
– August 8-12, 2013
• Academic, cultural, & social workshops
– EOP services, career services, financial
aid
• Summer 2013: 91 Participants
• 8 Transfer Bridge Mentors
Program Staff
• Robert Guzmán: Retention
Coordinator
• Cynthia Torres: Assistant Director
• Brandi Tonne: Graduate Student
• Fabiola Pimienta: Counselor
• Lorena Malo: Outreach,
Recruitment, and Admissions
Coordinator
Division of Student
Affairs Mission
The Division of Student Affairs is a partner in the
university learning community. Education is enhanced,
both inside and outside of the classroom, through highimpact programs and services that enhance student
learning, development and success. The Division
facilitates the academic success, personal growth, and
well-being of all students. Student Affairs transitions and
connects students to the university and to their future,
building communities that foster progress toward
degree completion and lifelong Aztec affinity (SDSU,
2013, p. 4)
EOP
Mission
The San Diego State University’s Educational Opportunity
Program serves as a primary vehicle for the CSU in
increasing the access, and academic success/retention of
California’s educationally and economically
disadvantaged students, thus working in the spirit and
abiding by the legislative intent that originally established
the Program in 1969 (SDSU, 2010).
Transfer Bridge Program
Mission
The mission of the Transfer Bridge program is to assist
new transfer students in adjusting to the academic and
student life at SDSU through workshops designed to
prepare them for their successful educational and social
transition to the university.
Transfer Bridge Program
Goals
• TBP did not have any articulated goals
• Goals are important because they:
–
–
–
–
–
Measure success of mission statement
They enhance/further define mission statement
Not measurable
Incorporate essence of program
Express values that inspire the work
Transfer Bridge Program
Goals
• Goal of DSA—to foster a campus culture that will encourage
the student to pursue excellence and be able to articulate his
or her own goals (SDSU, 2023).
• Goal of DSA—creating environments that influence the
campus’s diversity to maximize the success of the student,
staff member, faculty, and the administrator through
intentional and integrative experiences (SDSU, 2013).
• Goal of DSA—develop leaders who believe in leading others
toward supporting civility and diversity in our society including
the expansion of opportunities for all students inside and
outside the classroom, promotes the sense of belonging that
our program aspires to instill in the students(SDSU, 2013).
Transfer Bridge Program
Goals
• Transfer Bridge Goal—reduce Transfer Shock. Transfer Shock
occurs when a student experiences a decline on grades or
academic performance (Hills, 1965).
–
–
–
–
Bringing campus resources to TBP
These experiences will increase campus familiarity
Program teaches students to utilize services
Utilization of services enhances Campus Cultural Capital
• Transfer Bridge Goal—Creating Cultural Capital—”possessing
the ability to understand the dominant culture in the society
and more importantly to use the educated language” to
successfully transition to the university setting (Sullivan, 2001).
Transfer Bridge Program
Goals
• Transfer Bridge Goal—Increase Student’s Sense of
Belonging
• Sense of Belonging defined:
– When students feel personally accepted,
respected, included and supported in the school
social environment (Goodenow & Grady, 1993).
– If they feel connected, they will utilize campus
resources to help them succeed
Transfer Bridge Program
Goals
• Repaso
– What’s your mission?
– What are your program’s goals?
– Goals should be broad unmeasurable
statements.
– Match your goals with the Division’s
Transfer Bridge Program
Goals
• Transfer Bridge Program Goals:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Increase Student Familiarity to Campus Student Support
Services
Reduce Transfer Shock
Increase Student Sense of Belonging
Increase Campus Culture Capital
Connect Student to SDSU Community and Expand
Student Support Network
Create Strong Relationships Between Transfer Students
and EOP Staff
Transfer Bridge Program
Learning Outcomes
• Learning Outcomes:
– Need to be clearly defined
– They need to be tied back to the goals
– Need to measure a competency you want
the students to accomplish
– Data gathered assessment tools will be
used to adjust program
– create measurable, meaningful, and
manageable outcomes
Transfer Bridge Program
Learning Outcomes
• Learning Outcomes:
– Is it measurable? Is it identifiable?
– Is it meaningful to the organization and students
it serves? Is it a priority?
– Is it manageable—do we have the means to
deliver and evaluate the intended outcome?
– Can I access the population I am measuring?
– Will it provide me with evidence that will lead
me to make a decision for continuous
improvement? (Bresciani, Gardner& Hickmott,
2009)
Transfer Bridge Program
Learning Outcomes
Example of Learning Outcomes:
To measure knowledge (recall of information,
dates, names, major ideas) USE—list, define, tell,
describe, show
To measure comprehension (understanding of
information, translate knowledge into new context, interpret
facts)
USE—summarize, interpret, contrast,
associate, differentiate (Blooms Taxonomy,
2013).
Transfer Bridge Program
Learning Outcomes
• Transfer Bridge Learning Outcomes:
1. Students will be able to identify the EOP services available to the
students (tutoring, academic advising, and counseling
presentations)
2. Students will be able to identify SDSU services available to them
(Library Services, Student Disability Services, and Career
Services)
3. Students will be able to identify faculty expectations(faculty
presentation)
4. Students will have an increase in sense of belonging (staff
interaction, ice breakers, mentor bonding, campus visits)
5. Students will have increased familiarity about financial aid
presentations (FA presentation)
6. Students will have increased familiarity with student service
portals (Webportal, Blackboard presentations)
Transfer Bridge Program
Learning Outcomes
• Make sure Outcomes are connected with Goals:
– Goal--Increase Student Familiarity to Campus Student
Support Services
• Students will be able to identify the EOP services
available to the students (tutoring, academic advising,
and counseling presentations)
• Students will be able to identify SDSU services
available to them (Library Services, Student Disability
Services, and Career Services
• Students will have increased familiarity about financial
aid presentations (FA presentation)
Theoretical Frameworks
• Critical Race Theory (Solórzano, Yosso, Ceja, 2005):
Inherent is the notion that racism exists in American
society. In education, it has played an instrumental
role in challenging our perspectives on how we
understand and analyze inequalities in education.
• Validation Theory (Rendón, 2002): Poses that
college staff take a proactive role in reaching out to
students to affirm them as being capable of doing
academic work and to support them in their
academic endeavors and social adjustment.
• Both frameworks seem to align best with the
program goals and outcomes.
Program Assessment
• Assessment tools can be complicated
to produce
• Recommended to get assistance
from institutional assessment
• There are many different types of
assessment tools
• Experts can help you pick the right
one
Program Assessment
• We are not survey experts
• Be careful of the loaded question
– How important is education?
– Should Americans buy imported cars
and take away American jobs?
– What should Americans do when
shopping for a car?
– How important is education compared
to other major social issues?
Program Assessment
• Questionnaire experts will ask you
about your mission statement, goals,
and outcomes
• Then they will work on creating an
assessment tool
• Sources available:
– Institutional assessment office
– Academic departments—Sociology,
Education
Methodology
•
•
•
•
Employed a mixed-methods design
Post quantitative survey
1 qualitative focus group
Transfer Bridge Program Survey= 73 Likert-type items
• 52 items measured campus cultural capital
• 21 items measured sense of belonging
• 4-point Likert-scale (1=not familiar at all- 4= very familiar)
• 9 demographic questions (i.e., age, sex,
race/ethnicity, major, GPA, etc.)
Participants
• 32 former TBP students completed the survey
via Qualtrics
• n= 24 females, n= 8 males
• Represented a convenient/random sample
– 3=White/Caucasian, 1=Asian American, 1= AfricanAmerican, 17=Mexican, Mexican-American,
6=Hispanic/Latino(a), 2=Middle Eastern, 2=Multiethnic
• Age range= 26-32 years old
• Focus group= 5 former TBP students
Procedures
Quantitative
• Solicited former TBP participants by
email asking them to complete the
TBP survey
• Survey was opened for 2 weeks
• Received a total of 32 responses
Qualitative
•
•
•
•
Focus group
Convenient/purposeful sample
Semi-structured protocol
1 hour long
SB Validity & Reliability Findings
Wanted to test whether questions were measuring sense of belonging
Conducted factor rotation and found that questions rotated in 3 factors.
For each factor, the reliability index measured at .95, .96, .96
1 item was deleted
CC Validity & Reliability Findings
Partial Pilot Findings
SB-EOP Staff
30
25
20
23
18
20
18
17
15
13
14
10
5
0
I believe that I believe that I feel that EOP
I feel
I feel like I
I feel
I feel like I fit
EOP Staff care EOP Staff care Staff supports supoorted by matter to EOP connected to in with EOP
are me
about my my academic EOP Staff
Staff
EOP Staff
Staff
success
success
Strongy Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree
Focus Group Findings
“The bridge program gave me a community, it gave me so
much knowledge about different programs. I knew
everything that I had to do when I started.”
“It helps you get acclimated to the campus. It takes out
the anxiety before school starts.”
“when I came [to transfer bridge] I didn’t know anything.
Knowledge of services was the most helpful. I was
thinking, how do people survive if they didn’t go to
transfer bridge? I feel so lucky.”
“it was helpful to know that you have others that are going
through the same thing. The social bonding was great.”
“We had speakers that told us that we could do it and then
shared about their own struggles. It helped me.”
Lessons Learned
Melissa:
• Effective evaluation tools are difficult to create; they are
time consuming, and you must involve all stakeholders.
Lashae:
• There is always the challenge of trying to remain
objective in the process.
Roberto:
• There is limited professional development, knowledge
and skills among stakeholders to effectively measure
program success, which ultimately impacts students.
• Need for staff training and accountability
References
Brescianni, M.J. (2006). Outcomes-based academic and co-curricular program review. Sterling, VA:
Stylus Publishing.
Educational Opportunity Program at San Diego State University. (2010). Educational opportunity
program mission statement and program history. Retrieved from:
http://eop.sdsu.edu/Content/EOP.html.
Goodenow, C. & Grady, K. (1993). The relationship of school belonging and friends’ values to
academic motivation among urban adolescent students. The Journal of Experimental
Education, 62(1), 60-71.
Hills, J.R. (1965). Transfer Shock: The academic performance of the junior college transfer. The
Journal of Experimental Education, 33(3), 201-215.
Jain, D., Herrera, A., Bernal, S., Solorzano, D.G. (2011). Critical race theory and the transfer function:
Introducing a transfer receptive culture. Community College Journal of Research and
Practice, 35(1), 252-266.
References
Rendon, L.I. (2002). Community college Puente: A Validating model of education. Educational Policy,
16(4), 642-667.
Solorzano, D. G., Ceja, M., & Yosso, T. (2000). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus
climate: The experiences of African American college students. The Journal of Negro
Education, 69(1/2), 60-73.
Student Affairs at San Diego State University. (2013, August 11). The 2013-2015 strategic plan.
Retreived from:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:EtQAA6Xf8SgJ:go.sdsu.edu/stud
ent_affairs/files/02487-SDSU_SA_Strategic_Plan_for_20132015.doc+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Sullivan, A. (2001). Cultural capital and educational attainment. Sociology, 35(4), 893-912.