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

本研究调查了可以通过鼓励学生选择STEM专业或增加这类学生的留用率来增加在科学、技术、工程或数学（STEM）领域接受教育的大学毕业生供应的政策。特别是，该项目将衡量一个项目，少数民族工程与科学入门（MITES）在提高STEM参与和教育程度方面的效果。MITES是麻省理工学院（MIT）每年举办的一个暑期项目，30多年来一直为有风险的高成就高中生提供服务。本项目将对MITES夏季充实计划进行严格的随机评估，以评估MITES对参与者的教育程度的影响，以及MITES是否增加了对STEM领域的兴趣。该研究的目的是为MITES项目的影响提供最有力的证据，并为识别STEM教育障碍的努力提供突破。无论是对项目本身的管理，还是对如何在代表性不足的学生群体中鼓励教育成就和参与STEM的进一步理解，评估MITES的影响都是必要和有价值的。MITES项目是资源密集型的，并且有很大的容量限制。由于社区中服务不足的学生有如此多的需求，确保大学尽可能有效地伸出援手并提供丰富的机会是很重要的。评估可以帮助说明MITES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MITES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计划设计，为更多有需要的学生提供服务。这个项目增加了对教育干预进行严格评估的文献。高成就、高风险学生的目标人群在很大程度上被忽视了，尽管这些学生在大学毕业、STEM参与和大学入学质量方面存在滞后（Adelman 2006; Pallais and Turner 2006）。此外，最近的一篇文献强调了大学申请前一段时间对申请、入学和完成大学学业的选择以及申请经济援助的选择的重要性（Bettinger et al. 2009; Carrell and Sacerdote 2012; Avery and Kane 2004）。这个研究项目探讨了在这个敏感时期的干预是如何影响学生的专业选择的。为了对MITES项目进行深入的影响评估，研究人员将随机分配一部分MITES申请者参加麻省理工学院工程拓展项目办公室（OEOP）实施的夏季充实项目，或者作为对照组的一部分。利用OEOP、全国学生信息中心、调查和社交网站的数据，研究人员将确定OEOP项目对教育投资决策和STEM参与的因果影响。这项研究将衡量各科目教育程度的变化，包括：根据大学排名估计的入学学院的质量；完成学位的学生比例；学生完成学位所需的平均时间；学生的累积大学GPA；以及学生是否主修STEM领域。该项目将对教育干预研究做出重要补充，该研究旨在提高未被充分代表的少数民族在STEM领域和高等教育中的参与度。

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.