The Roadrunner Experience is a residential and immersive summer bridge program designed for students requiring learning support math and English. In this six-week program, students were enrolled in both learning support math and English as well as their credit course counterparts. Roadrunner Scholars were provided tutoring assistance, peer education, development opportunities, as well as social activities. All aspects of the program were provided at no cost through scholarships offered by our Dalton State Foundation. Students were invited to apply for the program based on their high school GPA and require learning support classes.
In addition to the completion rates, the students were surveyed at the end of each course (math and English). Below are some of the results for summer 2024.
For the math, 11/15 (73%) successfully passed both math courses (LS and MATH 1101).
For English, 15/17 (88%) successfully passed English courses (LS and ENGL 1101).
A participant survey was conducted. Eleven participants completed the survey.
Results of Math survey:
- 7/11 (64%) rated the program good or excellent. None of the participants gave a rating of poor.
- All participants felt the pace of the program was challenging.
- All respondents stated they would recommend the program.
Results of English survey:
- 8/10 (80%) rated the program good or excellent. None of the participants gave a rating of poor.
- 5/10 (50%) felt the pace of the program was challenging.
- 9/10 (90%) stated they would recommend the program.
These data will be collected with each cohort.
The program is completed for 2024. The program will be expanded for summer 2025 to include more scholars (up to 36) as well as our freshman seminar class (PRSP). All classes will be offered over the entire six weeks of the program, alternating days of Math and English. We also plan to embed a tutor and peer mentor with each class.
We have had a commitment of up to $110,000 funding from the Dalton State Foundation for this initiative.
We did not have a celebration at the end of the program. We will include a celebration/recognition for completers moving forward.
We will begin to invitations to apply in January will a follow-up email about two weeks later.
The program will begin the week of June 9, 2025, and will conclude on July 25, 2025
One potential challenge may be funding. Our Dalton State Foundation has pledged $110,000 to support. However, should additional funds be needed to support the expanded program, then we will need to identify a source. Also, we will need to modify the program to meet the expanded timeline.
Any insight from the USO or sister institutions who implement a residential summer bridge program could be helpful in further developing the program.
