Planning Grant: Developing a National Higher Education Student Unit Record Database

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This engineering education research project is the planning stage of constructing a national, longitudinal, student unit-record database that will enable researchers, faculty, administrators and policy makers to understand retention and other metrics that define student pathways through engineering consistently. This award funds the planning of such a database, which builds from a successful prior effort that has led to several insights about student pathways through engineering degree programs. The project will engage a broad array of stakeholders and experts to craft a value proposition for creating and maintaining the proposed database.The broader significance and importance of this project will be to create resources and networks that can help the United State understand issues in retaining students in engineering degree programs. Research using existing, but small-scale databases, has shown that engineering students from different groups may take follow different trajectories in obtaining an engineering degree or leave degree program for different reasons. The proposed project will extend our understanding of these issues. This project overlaps with NSF's strategic goals of transforming the frontiers through preparation of an engineering workforce with new capabilities and expertise. Additionally NSF's goal of innovating for society is enabled by creating results and research that are useful for society by informing educational policy and practices.