Eric.ed.gov – Evaluation of the Appalachian Regional Commission Oak Ridge National Laboratory Summer Institute for Math/Science/Technology

This report describes some of the key immediate and long-term outcomes achieved by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC)-Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Summer Institute for Math/Science/Technology for student and teacher participants. This two-week summer program provides high school students and teachers from the Appalachian region the opportunity to work with mentor scientists from ORNL on inquiry-based, applied projects in science, math, and computer technology. The goals of the Summer Institute, in operation since 1990, are to (1) encourage more high school students to continue their studies beyond high school, (2) encourage more students to pursue careers in the projected shortage areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and (3) raise the level of math, science, and technology instruction in high schools throughout the region to facilitate the first two goals. To assess the results of its more than $2 million investment in the Summer Institute since its inception 16 years ago in 1990, ARC funded this evaluation to determine the extent to which these goals have been achieved. The evaluation sought to measure short-and longer-term outcomes aligned with the Summer Institute’s goals for students and teachers. ARC asked AED evaluators to make recommendations for establishing an ongoing evaluation capability for the ARC-ORNL Summer Institute. These recommendations can be found in the appendix to this report. (Contains 26 tables and 1 figure.)