RCCD Colleges Launch Summer Math Institute

​​Riverside Community College District (RCCD) and its colleges are launching an online Summer Math Institute for graduating high school seniors and current RCCD students. District leadership is especially interested in attracting African American and Latinx students to the Institute, to accelerate their time to an Associate's degree and/or transfer to a four-year institution.

During a recent RCCD Board of Trustees meeting, District leadership reported that 59 percent of freshmen are not attempting college-level math during their first year of college often due to a fear of math or previous unsuccessful experience in math courses.

RCCD interim vice chancellor of Educational Services and Strategic Planning, Jeannie Kim, Ph.D., observed, “The Summer Math Institute is a program that is especially important to the RCCD Board of Trustees who seek to ameliorate math achievement gaps by recruiting and incentivizing more racially diverse high school seniors and current RCCD students to enroll in one of two college-level math courses, Math 36 (Trigonometry) for those wanting to pursue a Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) major or Math 12 (Statistics) for those wanting to pursue Humanities and Social Sciences degrees."

Faculty teaching these courses have committed to additional professional development this spring term, focusing on culturally-responsive teaching strategies and providing additional supports to destigmatize math and facilitate student success, especially for our African-American and Hispanic students. Check out this YouTube video to get a sense of who is teaching.

There are great incentives for students to participate in this summer program including free tuition and fees, a loaned laptop computer and hotspot, and a Summer Math Institute Scholarship of $1,000 ($500 disbursed the week of July 15 and the other $500 the week of August 2). These students will also have an opportunity to apply for CARES Act HEERF Student Aid grants (up to $1,000) during the Summer 2021 term. First-time freshmen participating in the Institute are also guaranteed enrollment in the college's Promise Program, which includes priority registration during their first year.

The Summer Math Institute will take place from June 21 to August 13 with courses offered at each of RCCD's three colleges. Space is limited so those interested should visit the Summer Math Institute website at https://www.rccd.edu/summer-institute/Pages/index.aspx for more information.​