National AGEP Evaluation

American Institutes For Research In The Behavioral Sciences, Arlington VA

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT DRL-0823766 Study 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.