Bridging Programs: Pathways to Equity in Post-Secondary Education

This report was published by YouthREX.

HERE’S HOW THE AUTHORS DESCRIBE THIS REPORT:

The purpose of this report is to review the evidence related to how well existing post-secondary education (PSE) bridging programs support and enable underrepresented youth to access, persist, and complete a PSE program. To close the PSE opportunity gap and ‘move the dial’ on PSE access and completion equity, our report is intended to serve as an evidence-based resource for youth-serving organizations and individuals interested in developing and/or evaluating bridging programs. This report provides a point-in-time summary of the evidence-base related to PSE bridging programs. As this field of research evolves, so will the data. As such, this report presents a snapshot of both the academic and grey literature, highlighting promising practices that are evidence-based and that, as a result, provide an important starting point for those interested in program development and/or evaluation.

This paper seeks to:

• Review and assess the most effective bridging strategies and/or programs for engaging underrepresented youth in PSE;
• Present evaluated strategies for engaging young people in bridging opportunities and for keeping them engaged and supported after transitioning to PSE; and,
• Reflect on the challenges in the delivery of bridging programs and examine case studies of programs that have achieved significant success.

Categorised in: Report