Implementing the STEM Excellence and Leadership Program to Understand the Role of Local Agency in Broadening High-Potential, Rural Students' STEM Participation and Achievement

作为加强非正式环境中学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）项目资助了用于各种环境的创新研究、方法和资源。“服务于实践的研究”项目将解决农村中学生非正式教育的问题，这些学生在学习上有很高的潜力，通过努力促进计算机和IT知识、高级定量知识和STEM技能。爱荷华州农村地区的十个学区将被选为这项研究的对象。预计将产生关于农村非正规教育的新知识，使国家的劳动力受益。具体目标是了解非正式STEM学习如何影响农村高潜力学生的学业和社会心理结果，并确定农村高潜力学生及其教师成功的非正式STEM学习环境的关键特征。该项目的成果将为教育工作者提供新的工具，以增加来自经济弱势农村地区的服务不足学生进入STEM的流量。总统科学技术顾问委员会预测，在未来十年，STEM工作岗位的数量将迅速增加，这说明学生迫切需要教育机会，为他们做好准备。2014年，62%的美国大公司首席执行官表示，填补需要先进计算机和信息技术知识的职位面临挑战。项目团队将采用混合方法，整合比较案例研究和混合效应纵向方法，来研究卓越项目。数据来源包括教师访谈、课堂观察和学生对学业能力和心理社会结果的评估。该计划的分析和评估将以了解当地学区为满足其高潜力学生群体的需求而建立课程的努力为基础。项目设计和后续分析计划采用混合方法，结合案例研究和纵向定量方法来分析自然数据，并为该计划的实施和影响建立强有力的证据。该项目将在如何最好地设计、实施和支持非正式校外学习环境方面提供重要见解，以扩大资源不足的农村学生参与最高水平的STEM教育和职业。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings. This Research in Service to Practice project will address the issues around Informal Education of rural middle school students who have high potential regarding academic success in efforts to promote computer and IT knowledge, advanced quantitative knowledge, and STEM skills. Ten school districts in rural Iowa will be chosen for this study. It is anticipated that new knowledge on rural informal education will be generated to benefit the Nation's workforce. The specific objectives are to understand how informal STEM learning shapes the academic and psychosocial outcomes of rural, high-potential students, and to identify key characteristics of successful informal STEM learning environments for rural, high-potential students and their teachers. The results of this project will provide new tools for educators to increase the flow of underserved students into STEM from economically-disadvantaged rural settings. The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology predicts a rapid rise in the number of STEM jobs available in the next decade, describing an urgent need for students' educational opportunities to prepare them for this workforce. In 2014, 62% of CEOs of major US corporations reported challenges filling positions requiring advanced computer and information technology knowledge. The project team will use a mixed methods approach, integrating comparative case study and mixed effects longitudinal methods, to study the Excellence program. Data sources include teacher interviews, classroom observations, and student assessments of academic aptitude and psychosocial outcomes. The analysis and evaluation of the program will be grounded in understanding the local efforts of school districts to build curriculum responsive to the demands of their high-potential student body. The project design, and subsequent analysis plan, utilizes a mixed methods approach, incorporating case study and longitudinal quantitative methods to analyze naturalistic data and build robust evidence for the implementation and impact of this program. This project will provide significant insights in how best to design, implement, and support informal out-of-school learning environments to broaden participation in the highest levels of STEM education and careers for under-resourced rural students.