High-Impact Practice

Bridge Programs: Overview

Description

Summer Bridge programs help students transition from high-school to college. Components of most bridge programs include social-emotional supports and academic supports. Most Summer Bridge involve accelerated college coursework, exposure to university resources, and opportunities for students to form meaningful social connections with each other.

The content and target populations of summer bridge programs vary widely. These programs often feature components that help students navigate the transition to college by providing general information about college life and resources and in some cases, by encouraging family member involvement in students’ academic support networks. These non-academic college readiness components are designed to provide cultural and social capital to students and to promote adjustment to college culture. Some summer bridge programs for general education students provide accelerated academic experiences as well. Historically, summer bridge programs have targeted (but are not limited to) students from traditionally underserved groups, e.g., students from ethnic/racial minority groups, low-income students, and/or first-generation students. (Bruno et al., 2016; Kezar, 2000; May & Chubin, 2017; Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore, 2010; Otewalt, 2013.; Reyes, Anderson-Rowland, & McCartney, 1998)

Benefits for Students

The five critical components of well-designed bridge programs support and foster the development of the following skills, beliefs and behaviors:

  • Cognitive
    • Skills related to successful task performance (retrieval, spacing, interleaving, self-explanations)
    • Metacognition – self-management of learning
  • Non-cognitive (affective)
    • Belonging (academic and social)
    • Self-efficacy
    • Growth Mindset
  • Well-being (emotional & physical)

In addition, well-designed and implemented bridge programs may support the following college outcomes:

Analytic inquiry/ critical thinking

  • Information Literacy
  • Quantitative fluency
  • Communicative fluency
  • Collaborative learning
  • Creative Thinking
  • Problem Solving

It should be noted that although much has been published (or made public) with respect to Bridge Programs, there have been very few rigorous studies of the efficacy of these programs (DoE, 2016). The known reports of such studies are noted below.

In comparing bridge program participants with non-participants, during the first 16 years of the program, Maton(Maton et al., 2016) found that almost twice as many students who had participated in the program completed Ph.D.s. Four-hundred and seventy nine (479) program participants earned Ph.D.s compared to 249 in the comparison group.

Summer Bridge at Berkeley began with the efforts of Uri Treisman. The website states: “Using measurable data it has been shown that students who complete Summer Bridge persist at Cal at a higher rate than non-Summer Bridge first-year students. Overall retention rates for Summer Bridge students are higher than those of the general student body.”(Fullilove & Treisman, n.d.; Treisman, 1992)

Ashley, Cooper, Cala, & Brownell, 2017 provide an excellent review of the published (peer-reviewed, and non-peer reviewed) work on bridge programs. The table on pages 5-7 of their review is an excellent resource.

Critical Components

Bridge programs generally include:

  • Academic enrichment & support opportunities
  • Academic skills development opportunities
  • Academic advising
  • Introduction to campus resources and supports
  • Opportunities to form social-emotional connections with peers before the start of the 1st semester.