Washington Forestry Training Initiative

华盛顿林业培训倡议（WFTI）正在响应自然资源行业的需求。它的重点是追求由两所华盛顿州公立社区学院，绿河学院和格雷斯港学院联合提供的应用STEM学士学位的学生。该项目的三个目标是：(1)增加合资格学生的入学率和多样性；(2)实施和研究应用STEM学习实践的有效性，以改善学生的学业和职业成就；以及(3)为这些学生实施和维持有效的基于群体的活动。该项目每年颁发92份奖学金，最高可达7500美元。它正在努力提高奖学金获得者（S-STEM学者）的保留率，并提高他们的毕业率。S-STEM学者将主要从在职和失业工人中招募。S-STEM学者将通过教师建议和指导、学术辅导、基于群体的活动、学生支持服务、专业发展和网络活动，支持他们实现职业安置或大学转学的目标。WFTI项目将研究应用学习对学生成绩的影响，应用学习通常被认为是应用学士学位的一个显著特征。这可以为大学实施和扩大应用学士学位提供信息，这是一个潜在的变革性工具，可以扩大STEM职业的机会，特别是在低收入和代表性不足的社区。项目管理团队由STEM教师领导，包括教育研究人员和STEM管理员。外部评价将评估项目研究的设计、实施、分析和解释的质量，以及项目活动和结果的实施。所有测量工具将：(1)预先开发和测试；然后针对本项目进行了修改和增强；或(2)是国家认可的工具，如优势自我效能量表。统计分析将包括t检验、方差分析或其他适当的方法，以确定跨时间或学生亚群体之间的显著差异。该项目产生的数据、报告和成功实践将在全国范围内传播，以改善STEM教育，并为高等教育政策制定提供信息。

The Washington Forestry Training Initiative (WFTI) is responding to needs in the Natural Resources industry. It focuses upon students pursuing an applied baccalaureate STEM degree offered jointly by two Washington State public community colleges, Green River College and Grays Harbor College. The three objectives of the project are to (1) increase the enrollment and diversity of eligible students, to (2) implement and study the effectiveness of applied STEM learning practices to improve students' academic and career outcomes, and to (3) implement and sustain effective cohort-based activities for these students. The project is awarding 92 annual scholarships of up to $7,500. It is working to increase the retention rate of scholarship recipients (S-STEM Scholars) and increase their graduation rate. S-STEM Scholars will be mainly recruited from incumbent and displaced workers. S-STEM Scholars will be supported to achieve their goals of career placement or university transfer, through faculty advising and mentoring, academic tutoring, cohort-based activities, student support services, and professional development and networking events.The WFTI project will study the impact of applied learning, often cited as a distinguishing feature of applied baccalaureate degrees, upon student outcomes. This can inform colleges' implementation and expansion of applied baccalaureate degrees, which are a potentially transformative tool to broaden access to STEM careers, especially within low-income and under-represented communities. The project management team is led by STEM faculty and includes educational researchers and STEM administrators. External evaluation will assess the quality of the project study's design, implementation, analyses, and interpretation as well as the the implementation of the project's activities and outcomes. All measurement tools will either: (1) be previously developed and tested; then, revised and enhanced for this project; or (2) are nationally validated instruments, such as the Strengths Self-Efficacy Scale. Statistical analyses will include t-test, ANOVA or other methods as appropriate to ascertain significant differences across time or among student sub-populations. Data, reports, and successful practices generated by this project will be nationally disseminated to improve STEM education and to inform higher education policymaking.