Research and Instructional Strategies for Engineering Retention - RISER

该项目的重点是两个有风险的第一年工程学生群体：（1）那些不符合第一年工程基础由于ACT数学考试和机构的数学分班考试成绩低，（2）在荣誉计划的妇女。 平均而言，这些有风险的学生占入学人数的三分之一，该方案打算将数学成绩低的一至二年级学生的保留率从45%提高到70%，将女荣誉学生的保留率从72%提高到93%，以便将毕业率提高10%。 对数学成绩低的学生的干预措施包括微积分前的特殊部分、块调度、生活学习社区和夏桥计划;对女荣誉学生的干预措施包括在大学和橡树岭国家实验室的研究助理，以及通过有组织的课外计划进行指导。由一名有经验的外部顾问进行的评价工作正在评估该项目在接触目标学生方面的效力以及该项目在实现初步指标和基准以及最终实现其总体目标方面的影响。 更广泛的影响包括关注两个高危人群，其中来自代表性不足群体的学生比例过高。

The project focuses on two at-risk first-year engineering student populations: (1) those that do not qualify for the first-year engineering fundamentals due to low scores on the ACT math test and on the institution's math placement test and (2) women in the honors program. On average, these at-risk students comprise a third of the entering class and the program intends to increase the first-to-second-year retention for the low math score group from 45% to 70% and for the women honor students from 72% to 93% in order to increase the graduation rate by 10%. Interventions for the students with low math score include special sections of precalculus, block scheduling, living learning communities, and summer bridge programs; interventions for the women honors students include research assistantships at the University and at the Oak Ridge National Lab and mentoring through an organized extracurricular program. The evaluation effort, which is being conducted by an experienced outside consultant, is assessing the project's effectiveness in reaching targeted students and the project's impact in achieving preliminary indicators and benchmarks and ultimately its overall goals. Broader impacts include the focus on two at-risk populations that contain a disproportionate fraction of students from underrepresented groups.