Completion and Attrition in AGEP and non-AGEP Institutions

AGEP 和非 AGEP 机构的结业和自然减员

• 批准号: 1138814
• 负责人: Suzanne Ortega
• 金额: $ 149.95万
• 依托单位: Council of Graduate Schools
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-15 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1138814&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Completion; Attrition; AGEP; non; Institutions

The underrepresentation of minority students in STEM fields is a national concern. Underrepresentation in doctoral enrollment is exacerbated by the fact that attrition rates from doctoral programs are high (40-50%), and minorities tend to complete at even lower rates than their counterparts. Such high rates of attrition impose significant economic, psychological, and social costs on individuals and society. Quite apart from these costs, we are faced with an aging STEM faculty and non-academic workforce that will need to be replaced. NSF's Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program aims to address this problem of underrepresentation in doctoral education and the academic workforce. Evaluations of the AGEP program have indicated that the numbers of underrepresented minority students enrolling in STEM doctoral programs have increased over time at institutions that received funding through the AGEP program, but the research conducted to date has not tied the activities and initiatives of AGEP institutions to student success, particularly completion rates. Since the activities and initiatives of the AGEP grantees vary considerably across institutions, it is not clear which of these interventions have the most potential to positively impact doctoral completion rates for underrepresented minority students.The project outlined in this proposal aims to examine patterns of completion and attrition among underrepresented minorities in STEM doctoral programs across a diverse set of AGEP and non-AGEP institutions with a view to understanding the factors that promote successful completion and the policies and practices that hold promise in this regard. The project builds on work already underway at the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) on Ph.D. completion and attrition and master's completion and attrition and extends it to include a much more fine-grained investigation of underrepresented minorities? experiences in STEM doctoral programs. Twenty institutions will be selected through a competitive process to provide de-identified student-level completion and attrition data for all underrepresented minority students entering all STEM doctoral programs at the participating institutions from 1992-93 through 2011-12 utilizing the methodology developed for the Ph.D. Completion Project and refined in the project's successor, Completion and Attrition in STEM Master's Programs. Participating institutions will also be required to administer surveys to underrepresented minority students to gather information on factors related to completion and attrition; to provide detailed data on activities and initiatives funded through the AGEP program, the Ph.D. Completion Project, and other sources, that may have impacted completion and attrition; and to facilitate access to faculty, administrators, and students during site visits designed to collect in-depth information on program policies, practices, and climate, and the perceived impact of these factors on completion and attrition.Intellectual merit: The research findings from this project will provide a rich and compelling portrait of the experiences, academic progress, stumbling blocks, and perceptions of underrepresented minorities enrolled in STEM doctoral programs in a variety of AGEP and non-AGEP institutions across the nation. Findings will inform NSF and the larger higher education community on how best to support these graduate students in diverse contexts so they successfully complete their doctoral programs and are fully acculturated in the norms and cultures of their disciplines, capable of mentoring and teaching the next generation of researchers and scholars, as well as driving future discovery in their fields.Broader impacts: CGS is uniquely positioned to undertake this effort in terms of its research capacity, current data collection efforts, and experience studying completion and attrition, as well as its ability to influence the larger world of graduate education. Collectively, CGS institutions annually award nearly 95% of all U.S. doctorates and more than three-quarters of all U.S. master's degrees. CGS disseminates its findings in a variety of ways, including published reports, newsletter articles, press releases, seminars, workshops, and annual conferences. As such, this project has the potential to have an extensive impact on improving participation, retention, and completion of underrepresented minorities in STEM doctoral programs in AGEP and non-AGEP institutions across the nation.

少数族裔学生在STEM领域的代表性不足是一个全国性的问题。博士课程的高流失率（40-50%）加剧了博士入学人数不足的事实，而少数民族的完成率往往比同龄人更低。如此高的流失率给个人和社会带来了巨大的经济、心理和社会成本。除了这些成本之外，我们还面临着老龄化的STEM教师和非学术劳动力需要被取代的问题。美国国家科学基金会的研究生教育和教授联盟（AGEP）计划旨在解决博士教育和学术劳动力中代表性不足的问题。对AGEP项目的评估表明，随着时间的推移，在接受AGEP项目资助的机构中，参加STEM博士课程的少数族裔学生人数有所增加，但迄今为止进行的研究并未将AGEP机构的活动和举措与学生的成功，特别是完成率联系起来。由于AGEP受助人的活动和倡议在各机构之间差异很大，因此尚不清楚哪些干预措施最有可能对代表性不足的少数民族学生的博士完成率产生积极影响。本提案中概述的项目旨在研究在不同的AGEP和非AGEP机构中，未被充分代表的少数民族在STEM博士项目中的完成和流失模式，以期了解促进成功完成的因素以及在这方面有希望的政策和实践。该项目建立在研究生院委员会（Council of Graduate Schools， CGS）已经在进行的关于博士学位结业和人员流失以及硕士学位结业和人员流失的工作基础上，并将其扩展到对代表性不足的少数族裔进行更细致的调查。有STEM博士项目的经验。将通过竞争过程选出20所院校，为1992-93年至2011-12年期间进入参与院校所有STEM博士项目的所有代表性不足的少数民族学生提供去识别的学生水平的完成和流失数据，使用为博士完成项目开发的方法，并在该项目的后续项目“STEM硕士项目的完成和流失”中进行了改进。参与机构还将被要求对代表性不足的少数民族学生进行调查，以收集有关结业和减员因素的信息；提供通过AGEP项目、博士结业项目和其他来源资助的活动和计划的详细数据，这些活动和计划可能会影响结业和人员流失；并在实地考察期间方便教师、管理人员和学生访问，旨在收集有关项目政策、实践和气候的深入信息，以及这些因素对完成和损耗的感知影响。智力优势：该项目的研究成果将为在全国各种AGEP和非AGEP机构中就读STEM博士课程的未被充分代表的少数民族的经历、学术进步、绊脚石和看法提供丰富而引人注目的描述。研究结果将告知NSF和更大的高等教育界如何最好地支持这些研究生在不同的背景下，使他们成功地完成他们的博士课程，并完全适应他们学科的规范和文化，有能力指导和教学下一代的研究人员和学者，以及推动未来的发现在他们的领域。更广泛的影响：CGS在其研究能力，当前数据收集工作，研究完成和减员的经验以及影响更大的研究生教育领域的能力方面具有独特的地位。总的来说，CGS院校每年授予近95%的美国博士学位和超过四分之三的美国硕士学位。CGS以各种方式传播其发现，包括出版的报告、时事通讯文章、新闻稿、研讨会、讲习班和年度会议。因此，该项目有可能对提高AGEP和非AGEP机构STEM博士项目中代表性不足的少数族裔的参与、保留和完成情况产生广泛影响。