Recruiting and retaining of men, minorities, and first-generation students into nursing and women, minorities, and first-generation students into the sciences is a challenge at many universities. Learning communities have been utilized in many university settings to promote retention of students from the first to the second year. The Science Learning Community (SLC) at XXX University was developed to assist minority and first-generation college students to succeed in nursing, biology, and chemistry majors. Inaugurated in 2002, the SLC had 23 members (8 nursing and 15 biology majors) who lived in one residence hall, shared cocurricular activities including mandatory study sessions and supplemental instruction, and attended the same sections of English and science classes during their first year. At the conclusion of year one, SLC students were compared on retention rates to three randomly-selected control groups matched for gender and minority status. Students in the SLC were retained at a higher rate (82.6%) than control group members (73.7%) and expressed high satisfaction with the SLC experience during exit interviews. SLC minority student retention rate was 87.5% compared with a 67% retention rate for minority students in the total university population. Two more classes have been admitted to the SLC and evaluation of the effectiveness of the program in retaining underrepresented students in nursing and the sciences is continuing.
Session #1112 - Toward a Science of Nursing Education: New Pedagogies/New Possibilities
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)