An Open-Admissions Summer Bridge Program: The Impact on First-Year Student Success

---

Author(s): Mary Medina Smith, & Ashley Clayton

Citation: Mary Medina Smith, & Ashley Clayton. (2021). An Open-Admissions Summer Bridge Program: The Impact on First-Year Student Success. Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 33(1), 75-97.

 

Abstract

This study examines the impact of an open-admissions summer bridge program geared toward first-year students at a large, public, land-grant university. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of the program on first-year student success as defined by (a) first-year fall semester GPA, (b) end-of-first-year GPA, (c) first-year fall semester credit hours earned, (d) first-year spring semester credit hours earned, (e) end-of-first-year credit hours earned, and (f) retention to the second year at the university. This study employed propensity score methods to compare participants in the Summer Bridge Program at the selected university to similar non- participant matches. The results of the study did not suggest a definitive positive impact of the Summer Bridge Program on the academic success of the first-year students who participated.