Project Contact: Dr. Perla Myers, Professor of Mathematics

Cohort: #6, AY 2021-2022

Main Strategic Goal Alignment: Goal 1: Enhancing Student Learning and Success

About: USD cannot fully predict what the repercussions will be for students who begin their college career during the coronavirus pandemic, which greatly impacted the education experiences of pre-college students, especially during periods when their high school learning was facilitated remotely. Several studies have already shown that students who learned from home during the pandemic “made little to no progress” and that “learning loss was most pronounced among students from disadvantaged homes” even in the Netherlands (Engzell, Frey & Verhagen, 2021), where the lockdown was short-lived, and where there is more equitable funding. Other studies have shown similar results including Bailey et al (2021), Means & Neisler (2021), and Diliberti & Kaufman, 2020. Science achievement gaps begin early and persist (Morgan et al, 2016), and due to the COVID-19 restrictions for schools, students most disadvantaged by inequitably-distributed resources have had even less hands-on STEM experiences than students who come from households with more financially-advantaged homes, as many of these students have had the financial means to secure in-person experiences throughout the pandemic (Means & Neisler, 2020; Pier et al 2021; Kuhfeld et al, 2020). Results from the mathematics placement exam at USD indicate that 66% of the cohort needed to start with College Algebra or a lower level of mathematics that will not count towards their STEM major plan of study, which can delay their graduation by at least a semester. The AnchorSTEM leadership team of this initiative wants to make sure that USD scholars begin college as prepared as possible to succeed in STEM. They believe that if students have the opportunity to participate in immersive learning and research activities during the summer before they start at USD, they will be able to compensate for some of the learning loss they have experienced due to COVID-19. Given the success of the pilot of a similar program and the ongoing pandemic conditions that exist, the initiative creates six AnchorSTEM Urgent Challenge Scholar Summer Positions for incoming STEM first year students who are local to San Diego, with a commitment to community engagement through a connection to a San Diego partner community-based organization, and who have at least one of the following identities: first generation college students and/or low income and/or Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color (BIPOC). The initiative will provide immersive learning and research opportunities for these students in STEM and connections to the Urgent Challenge areas at USD. Each scholar will spend approximately 8 weeks during the summer prior to joining USD, with mentorship from a faculty in STEM and/or one of the Urgent Challenge areas, learning and applying a socio-technical STEM lens to investigate a topic that is tied to one of the USD Urgent Challenge areas: Environmental Justice, Cross-border Engagement, Educational Equity, Homelessness, Food Insecurity, or Human Trafficking.