National AGEP Evaluation

摘要-0823766研究概述。AIR将对国家科学基金S研究生教育联盟和教授资助计划进行为期两年、分两个阶段的评估。第一阶段包括严格的量化评估，使用现有的数据良心，技术，工程和数学(STEM)博士注册和完成全国的趋势。数据来源将是获得博士学位调查(SED)、综合大专数据系统(IPEDS)和国家学生信息交换中心？S学生跟踪数据库。在第一阶段，在分析这些数据时发现的国家趋势将与AGEP机构的趋势进行比较。在第二阶段，AIR将解释第一阶段确定的AGEP支持的机构的趋势，并将详细说明AGEP在创建一个多样化的研究生社区以攻读STEM学科博士学位方面所发挥的作用。第二阶段将从实地考察和将管理给不同利益攸关方群体的调查中提取数据，即监督AGEP资助的STEM学位论文的教员，以及现任和前任AGEP资助的学生。这项研究将确定AGEP的附加值，以及该计划在创造多样化的毕业生群体以及随后的种族和民族多元化的STEM教授方面所起的作用。本研究将借鉴AIR的雄厚智力和技术资源，世界领先的教育研究公司之一--S。这项研究是首次对国家科学基金会--S环境保护计划进行国家评估。AGEP是在招收和留住STEM博士项目的少数族裔学生并确保他们完成学位方面最具创新性的全国性方法之一。因此，这项研究将促进对该项目如何影响STEM研究生的多样性和STEM教授的多样化的了解和理解。这将拓宽领域？S了解重要的招生、教学和学生支持战略，以使未被充分代表的少数民族学生进入STEM学科的教师职位。这项研究将提供有关这些战略在AGEP大学的有效性的新数据，并确定这些战略的结果如何与其他机构的结果进行比较。最终，这种知识可以改变未来几代学者的培养。承担这项任务的不同AIR研究团队因其在影响少数族裔学生教育成就的问题上的奉献精神、承诺和工作质量而受到认可。建议的混合方法设计适合于理解AGEP，揭示在不同校园区分AGEP模型的谨慎细微差别，并识别导致联盟的共同组件？成功。这项研究的概念性组织坚持严谨和研究的高标准，可以利用所建议的资源和美国研究所的研究基础设施来完成。随着全球经济越来越依赖受过高等教育的劳动力带来的创新和想法，美国将需要增加攻读STEM学科高级学位的美国公民人数。反过来，我们人口构成的变化使人们对社会各阶层教育公平的持续担忧变得越来越重要，让代表不足的少数族裔攻读STEM学科的高级学位变得越来越重要。AGEP的明确设计是为了增加STEM博士生和STEM教授中的少数族裔代表，但该领域需要更多地了解项目组成部分是如何工作的。通过这次评估获得的有关计划成效的经验教训将传播给AGEP联盟和更广泛的高等教育界。在传播和复制方面，这项研究将有助于扩大代表不足的群体对STEM教育和教授职位的参与。

ABSTRACTDRL-0823766Study Overview. AIR will conduct a two-year, two phased evaluation of the National Science Foundation?s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) grant program. Phase One consists of a rigorous quantitative evaluation, using extant data conscience, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Ph.D. enrollment and completion trends across the nation. The data sources will be the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), the Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS), and the National Student Clearinghouse?s StudentTracker Database. During Phase One, national trends discovered in analyzing these data will be compared to trends AGEP institutions. During Phase Two AIR will explain trends at AGEP-supported institutions identified in Phase One and will detail the role that AGEP has played in creating a diverse community of graduate students in pursuit of the Ph.D. in STEM disciplines. Phase Two will draw data from site visits and from surveys that will be administered to various stakeholder groups, i.e. faculty supervising AGEP supported STEM dissertations, and current and former AGEP supported students. The study will determine the value-added by AGEP and the role the program plays in creating a diverse graduate population and, subsequently, a racially and ethnically diverse STEM professoriate. The study will draw on the substantial intellectual and technological resources of AIR, one of the world?s pre-eminent educational research firms.Intellectual Merit. The proposed study is the first national evaluation of NSF?s AGEP. AGEP is one of the most innovative national approaches to recruiting and retaining minority students in STEM doctoral programs and ensuring the completion of their degrees. As such, this study will advance knowledge and understanding about how this program affects the diversity of STEM graduate students and the diversification of the STEM professoriate. It will broaden the field?s understanding of important recruitment, teaching and student support strategies for getting underrepresented minority students into faculty positions within STEM disciplines. The study will provide new data on the efficacy of these strategies at AGEP universities and determine how the outcomes of these strategies compare with outcomes at other institutions. Ultimately, this knowledge can change the training of future generations of scholars. The diverse AIR team of researchers taking on this task is recognized for its dedication, commitment and quality of work on the issues impacting educational achievement of minority students. The proposed mixed method design is appropriate for understanding AGEP, for unmasking the discreet nuances that differentiate the AGEP models on different campuses, and for identifying the common components that lead to the Alliances? success. The conceptual organization of the study adheres to high standards of rigor and research and can be accomplished with the resources proposed and the research infrastructure of the American Institutes for Research.Broader Impacts. As the global economy depends increasingly on the kinds of innovations and ideas made possible by a highly educated workforce, the United States will need to increase the number of American citizens who pursue advanced degrees in STEM disciplines. Shifts in our demographic makeup, in turn, make on-going concerns about educational equity for all sectors of the community increasingly important, and getting underrepresented minorities to pursue advanced degrees in STEM disciplines becomes an ever more important concern. AGEP is explicitly designed to increase minority representation in STEM doctoral production and in the STEM professoriate, but the field needs to know more about how program components work. Lessons learned about program efficacy through this evaluation will be disseminated to the AGEP alliances and to the broader higher education community. In the dissemination and replication, the study will help broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM education and the professoriate.