Evaluation Of The Nc Lsamp Project Using Graduation Rate And Gatekeeping Course Performance

Aiming to substantially increase the number of underrepresented minorities who will contribute significantly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, engineering, and technology (STEM) areas, especially in graduate degree programs, the North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (NC-LSAMP) project has seen a positive impact in the past few years. A longitudinal study has been carefully planned and data are being collected. So far, academic performance has been evaluated by comparing student GPA between the control group and the experimental group for the past two years. However, there are some other factors that can help assess the effectiveness of the project. In this study, two important factors were chosen to assist the evaluation of the NC-LSAMP Project: graduation rate and gate-keeping course performance. Results from the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test revealed that students in the experimental group performed significantly better than those in the control group for both measures. Once again, strong evidence from the statistical analysis indicated that the NC-LSAMP project has the potential to significantly impact the retention and graduation rates of underrepresented STEM students.