Collaborative Research: ASPIRE: Appalachian Students Promoting the Integration of Research in Education

“阿巴拉契亚学生促进教育研究一体化”(ASPIRE)项目将通过支持在诺克斯维尔或查塔努加的田纳西大学就读的高成就、低收入的阿巴拉契亚学生完成科学学位来促进阿巴拉契亚地区的经济增长。阿巴拉契亚地区的学生来自高等教育稀少、贫困率高的家庭，因此对完成学位造成了障碍。ASPIRE将通过提供奖学金以及有针对性的学术和社会支持来解决获得科学学位的经济、学术和其他障碍。80名学生将获得为期四年的奖学金，生活在以研究为重点的生活/学习社区，从事有指导的研究，并参加学术过渡研讨会、职业发展奖学金和家庭活动。诺克斯维尔校区的奖学金学生还将参加新的阿巴拉契亚导师计划，该计划将在社会、学术和职业相关领域提供支持。ASPIRE将比较来自低收入、低少数民族、农村学校的学生，这些学校的学生的大学入学率(44%)和六年毕业率(21%)是所有群体中最低的，与来自低收入、高少数族裔的城市学校的学生进行比较。重点将放在评估这两类学生的重叠和独特需求，以及对经济、社会文化和学术转型的相对影响，以及每种支持的持续性和成功所面临的障碍。关于第一代、低收入或代表性不足的少数族裔学生的需求，我们已经知道了很多；但对于这些身份的不同组合的学生面临不同挑战并从不同支持服务中受益的程度，我们知之甚少。ASPIRE将提供一个新的机会来识别和了解这种独特的需求。这项研究的结果将促进对以证据为基础的、高影响力的实践的了解，这些实践有助于不同学生的成功。

The "Appalachian Students Promoting the Integration of Research in Education" (ASPIRE) project will promote economic growth in the Appalachia region by supporting high achieving, low-income Appalachian students who attend the University of Tennessee in Knoxville or Chattanooga to complete degrees in science. Appalachian students come from households where post-secondary education is rare and poverty rates are high, thus creating barriers to degree completion. ASPIRE will address financial, academic, and other barriers to graduating with a scientific degree by providing scholarships and targeted academic and social support. Eighty students will receive four-year scholarships, live in research-focused living/learning communities, engage in mentored research, and participate in academic transition seminars, career-building fellowships and family activities. Scholarship students on the larger Knoxville campus will also engage with the new Appalachian Mentoring Program, which will provide support across social, academic, and career-related domains.ASPIRE will compare students from low-income, low-minority, rural schools, which have the lowest college enrollment rate (44%) and the lowest six-year completion rates (21%) of any group, with students from low-income, high-minority, urban schools. The focus will be on evaluating the overlapping and unique needs of these two groups of students, as well as the relative effects on financial, socio-cultural and academic transition barriers on persistence and success of each type of support. Much is already known about the needs of first-generation, low-income, or underrepresented minority students; yet much less is known about the extent to which students with different combinations of these identities face different challenges and benefit from different support services. ASPIRE will provide a novel opportunity to identify and understand such unique needs. Results from this research will advance knowledge about evidence-based, high-impact practices that facilitate success for diverse students.