STUDENT SUCCESS IN GEOSCIENCE: A SAGE 2YC PERSPECTIVE

Supporting student success is one goal of the Supporting and Advancing Geoscience Education in Two-Year Colleges (SAGE 2YC): Faculty as Change Agents project. Faculty Change Agents work in teams to support the success of all students in their courses and geoscience programs and to facilitate students’ professional pathways in geoscience, including transfer to four-year institutions. SAGE 2YC uses course-level data provided by the institution as one approach for measuring student success; it also provides resources through workshops and a website about evidence-based practices to help faculty establish inclusive learning environments and support the success of all students.

Each team works with institutional research to collect data on geoscience courses offered at their college, including data on participation (course enrollment numbers), student success (course completion with a grade of C or higher), and program progression (students taking more than one geoscience course). Teams may use other data appropriate to their context, such as numbers of geoscience majors or students who transfer to 4YCU geoscience programs. The data are disaggregated on demographic variables such as race/ethnicity, gender, and other characteristics critical to measuring broadening participation and addressing plans to improve and spread innovative instructional practices. These data provide a focus for promoting equity and determining the effect of changes in instructional practice over time.

SAGE 2YC uses a framework of supporting the whole student and recognizes that supporting student success includes efforts both in and beyond the classroom. The SAGE 2YC website includes resources on supporting the success of all students, developing students’ metacognition skills, undergraduate research, and supporting particular groups of students, including first-generation students, English Language learners, and students with disabilities. Other resources include pages about mitigating implicit bias and stereotype threat, developing inclusive learning environments, student career development, and supporting student transfer to four-year institutions. The SAGE 2YC website (serc.carleton.edu/sage2yc/) enables dissemination, providing educators with resources to help all students be successful.