Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: The Effect of the Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (MITES) Program

经济学博士论文研究：少数人工程与科学概论（MITES）项目的影响

• 批准号: 1260898
• 负责人: Lawrence Katz
• 金额: $ 3.39万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-03-01 至 2016-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1260898&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Economics; Effect

This research investigates policies that could increase the supply of college graduates educated in a science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) field, either by encouraging students to undertake a STEM major, or by increasing the retention of such students. In particular, this project will measure the efficacy of one program, the Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (MITES), in increasing STEM participation and educational attainment. MITES is a summer program held annually at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that has been serving at-risk, high-achieving high school students for over 30 years. This project will conduct a rigorous, randomized evaluation of the MITES summer enrichment program in order to assess the effect of MITES on the educational attainment of its participants, as well as whether MITES increases interest in STEM fields. The objective of the study is to give the strongest possible evidence on the impact of the MITES program, and provide a breakthrough in the effort to identify the barriers to STEM education.Evaluating the impact of MITES is necessary and valuable, both for the administration of the program itself and to further the understanding of how to encourage educational attainment and participation in STEM among underrepresented student populations. The MITES program is resource intensive and has significant capacity constraints. With so much need in the community of underserved students, it is important to be sure that universities are reaching out and offering enrichment opportunities as efficiently as possible. An evaluation can help illustrate the impact of MITES relative to MIT's other programs, as well as which groups benefit most. Finally, estimates of the impact of MITES could help other universities and partners systematically adopt a similar program design and serve more students in need.This project adds to a growing literature that rigorously evaluates education interventions. The target population of high-achieving, at-risk students has been largely overlooked, despite documented lags among such students in college completion, STEM participation, and quality of the college of matriculation (Adelman 2006; Pallais and Turner 2006). In addition, a recent literature emphasizes the importance of the period immediately preceding college applications in influencing the choice to apply to, enroll in, and complete college, and the choice to apply for financial aid (Bettinger et al. 2009; Carrell and Sacerdote 2012; Avery and Kane 2004). This research project explores how interventions during this sensitive time can also impact a student's choice of major.In order to conduct an in-depth impact evaluation of the MITES program, the researchers will randomly assign a subset of MITES applicants to either participate in a summer enrichment program implemented through the MIT Office of Engineering Outreach Programs (OEOP), or to be part of a comparison group. Using data from the OEOP, the National Student Clearinghouse, surveys, and social networking websites, the researchers will identify the causal impact of the OEOP's programs on education investment decisions and STEM participation in particular. The study will measure changes in the educational attainment of subjects, including: the quality of the college of matriculation, as estimated by college rankings; the proportion of students who complete a degree; the average amount of time taken by students to complete a degree; a student's cumulative college GPA; and whether a student majors in a STEM field. This project will make an important addition to the research on educational interventions that strive to increase the participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM fields and higher education.

这项研究调查了一些政策，这些政策可以通过鼓励学生攻读STEM专业或通过增加此类学生的留存率来增加受过科学、技术、工程或数学(STEM)专业教育的大学毕业生的供应。特别是，这个项目将衡量一个项目--少数民族工程和科学导论(METES)--在提高STEM参与率和教育水平方面的成效。Memes是麻省理工学院(MIT)每年举办的一项暑期计划，30多年来一直为有风险、成绩优异的高中生提供服务。该项目将对螨类夏季增收计划进行严格、随机的评估，以评估螨类对其参与者的教育成就的影响，以及是否增加了对STEM领域的兴趣。这项研究的目的是提供最有力的证据来证明尘螨计划的影响，并在确定STEM教育障碍的努力中取得突破。评估尘螨的影响是必要的和有价值的，无论是对于该计划本身的管理，还是对如何鼓励未被充分代表的学生群体获得教育和参与STEM的进一步理解。螨虫项目是资源密集型项目，容量限制很大。由于缺乏服务的学生群体中有如此多的需求，确保大学尽可能有效地提供丰富的机会是很重要的。评估可以帮助说明相对于麻省理工学院其他项目的影响，以及哪些群体受益最大。最后，对螨虫影响的评估可以帮助其他大学和合作伙伴系统地采用类似的项目设计，并为更多有需要的学生提供服务。这个项目增加了越来越多的严格评估教育干预措施的文献。高成就、高风险学生的目标人口在很大程度上被忽视了，尽管这些学生在完成大学学业、参加STEM和预科学院的质量方面存在明显的滞后(Adelman 2006；Pallais and Turner 2006)。此外，最近的一篇文献强调了大学申请前的一段时间在影响申请、注册和完成大学的选择以及申请经济援助的选择方面的重要性(Bettinger等人。2009年；Carrell和Sacerdote 2012年；Avery和Kane 2004年)。这项研究项目探索了在这一敏感时期的干预措施如何影响学生的专业选择。为了对螨类项目进行深入的影响评估，研究人员将随机分配一组螨类申请者参加通过麻省理工学院工程外展计划办公室(OEOP)实施的夏季充实项目，或作为对照组的一部分。使用来自OEOP、国家学生信息交换中心、调查和社交网站的数据，研究人员将确定OEOP计划对教育投资决策，特别是STEM参与的因果影响。这项研究将衡量学科教育成就的变化，包括：根据大学排名估计的预科学校的质量；完成学位的学生比例；学生完成学位所需的平均时间；学生在大学期间的累计平均绩点；以及学生是否主修STEM领域。这一项目将是对教育干预研究的重要补充，教育干预努力增加未被充分代表的少数群体在STEM领域和高等教育中的参与。