![]() Second, our study reports on the level of success that can be achieved in the context of a public institution that enrolls large numbers of traditionally underserved students in STEM fields. First, it examines a system-wide approach to using peer-cooperative learning as opposed to peer-cooperative learning in a single course or department. Using a National Science Foundation’s STEM Talent Expansion Program (“STEP”) grant entitled STudent Retention Enhancement Across Mathematics and Science (STREAMS) (NSF-DUE 0969109), Bridgewater State University implemented a comprehensive approach to increasing STEM retention across five departments using a common playbook of pedagogical and co-curricular interventions, effecting a culture change in an entire college at once. BSU is a public, comprehensive four-year institution that serves large numbers of first generation college students (46.3%), low income students eligible for federal Pell grant assistance (35.4%), and underrepresented students of color (12.0%). This study reports on the impact of implementing a required, institution-wide peer-cooperative learning program in science and mathematics fields on STEM retention at Bridgewater State University (BSU). Unfortunately, the majority of traditionally underserved students attend under-resourced institutions whose overall graduation rates are below national averages (Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2015 Witham, Malcom-Piqueux, Dowd, & Bensimon, 2015 National Center for Education Statistics, 2014). Increasing the STEM pipeline remains an important issue and requires significant efforts to expand access and success in STEM to traditionally underserved student groups, including first-generation college students, low-income students, and students of color (National Science and Technology Council, 2013 President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2012 National Center of Science and Engineering Statistics, 2015). ![]() Furthermore, this increase in success leads to increased retention rates in STEM, expanding the pipeline of students retained in such fields. This finding is significant as it suggests that implementing comprehensive educational reform using required peer-led cooperative learning may have the proximate effect of mitigating differences in academic preparation (as measured by SAT scores) for students in introductory STEM courses. Further, this increase in introductory course grades was also associated with an increase in the two-year retention rate of students in STEM majors. While these two student groups did not significantly differ in either their demographic profile or their SAT scores, the post-implementation group earned significantly higher grades in their introductory courses in each major, due largely to an erasure of the mediating effect of SAT scores on course grades. Combining institutional demographic data with students’ course grades and retention rates, we compare outcomes between 456 students who took their major’s introductory course in the two years prior to implementation of the program, and 552 students who did so after implementation. ![]() In this article, we examine the effects of introducing a required, comprehensive peer-cooperative learning system across five departments simultaneously at a master’s public university, looking not only at students’ success in supported classes, but also their retention within STEM fields two years hence. Such studies typically demonstrate the impact of students’ attending peer-led learning sessions on their learning or grades in an individual course. Peer-cooperative learning has been shown in the literature to improve student success in gateway science and mathematics courses.
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