NSF INCLUDES: Design & Development Launch Pilots: UTAH PREP

犹他州山谷大学(UVU)与合作伙伴韦伯州立大学(WSU)和美国印第安人服务部(AIS)正在实施犹他州PREP(为STEM职业生涯做准备)，以满足及早准备数学的需要，以加强和激活从中学到中学后到职业STEM的管道。作为犹他州预科的初步基础工作，每个合作伙伴目前都有一个预科项目(UVU预科、威斯康星州立大学预科和AIS预科)，确定低收入、代表性不足的少数族裔、第一代和进入七年级的女性学生，并让他们参加一个为期七周、为期三年的暑期强化项目，整合STEM课程和活动。课程内容将技能建设学者与引人入胜的经验相结合，促进对数学概念和程序如何应用于科学和工程的各个领域的清楚理解。课程通过特别项目、实地考察、大学校园参观和一年一度的科技博览会得到加强。该计划的目的是激励和准备来自不同背景的参与者在高中完成严格的数学计划，以便他们能够成功地进行STEM学习和职业生涯，这对促进地区和国家福利至关重要。UTAH Prep基于德克萨斯大学圣安东尼奥分校发起的TEXPREP计划，该计划于2015年被白宫拉美裔卓越教育倡议命名为拉美裔教育亮点之一。在犹他州的非少数族裔服务机构和少数族裔人口较少，但学术和大学参与率差距很大的地区，UVU对该计划进行了修改。利用NSF为一项为期两年的试点计划提供的资金，项目合作伙伴正在通过一个联网的改进社区、集体影响方法来建立犹他州准备计划，如果证明成功，则有能力在全国范围内推广。这一试点计划的目标包括：1)创建犹他州预科项目协作，承诺实现一套共同的目标和共同的计划；2)加强现有的预科项目，并在犹他州的另外两到三所高等教育机构启动犹他州预科项目，每所院校都建立了一个可持续的本地支持网络；3)开发一个共享的衡量系统，以评估犹他州预科项目、调整和相辅相成的活动对学生的影响，包括那些在STEM学科中代表性不足的学生；以及4)启动一个骨干组织，支持该项目影响的未来扩展。

Utah Valley University (UVU) with partners Weber State University (WSU) and American Indian Services (AIS) are implementing UTAH PREP (PREParation for STEM Careers) to address the need for early preparation in mathematics to strengthen and invigorate the secondary-to-postsecondary-to-career STEM pipeline. As the preliminary groundwork for UTAH PREP, each partner currently hosts a PREP program (UVU PREP, WSU PREP, and AIS PREP) that identifies low-income, under-represented minority, first-generation, and female students entering seventh grade who have interest and aptitude in math and science, and involves them in a seven-week, three-year summer intensive program integrating STEM courses and activities. The course content blends skill-building academics with engaging experiences that promote a clear understanding of how mathematical concepts and procedures are applied in various fields of science and engineering. Courses are enhanced through special projects, field trips, college campus visits, and the annual Sci-Tech EXPO. The purpose of the program is to motivate and prepare participants from diverse backgrounds to complete a rigorous program of mathematics in high school so that they can successfully pursue STEM studies and careers, which are vital to advancing the regional and national welfare.UTAH PREP is based on the TexPREP program that originated at the University of Texas at San Antonio and which was named as one of the Bright Spots in Hispanic Education by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in 2015. TexPREP was adapted by UVU for use in Utah for non-minority serving institutions and in regions with lower minority populations, but with great academic and college participation disparity. With NSF funding for a two-year pilot program, the project partners are building UTAH PREP through a networked improvement community, collective impact approach that, if demonstrably successful, has the ability to scale to a national level. This pilot program's objectives include: 1) creating a UTAH PREP collaboration with commitments to a common set of objectives and common set of plans to achieve them; 2) strengthening existing PREP programs and initiating UTAH PREP at two or three other institutions of higher education in Utah, each building a sustainable local support network; 3) developing a shared measurement system to assess the impact of UTAH PREP programs, adaptations, and mutually reinforcing activities on students, including those from groups that are underrepresented in STEM disciplines; and 4) initiating a backbone organization that will support future scaling of the program's impact.