AC 2012-4443: SUMMARY RESULTS FROM SEVEN YEARS OF LAT-ECHSTEP: A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER DEVELOPMENT AND STU-DENT RECRUITING … (original) (raw)

LaTechSTEP is a collaborative program between Louisiana Tech University faculty and high school teachers in the region. LaTechSTEP has two primary goals 1) to recruit new STEM majors to Louisiana Tech, and 2) to build relationships between the faculty and teachers. Through this program, high school students are brought on the university campus three times each year to explore a topic such as fuel cells. The high school math and science teachers of these students are brought on campus six times each year: three training workshops, and three times with the students. This paper will present several outcomes of Louisiana Tech University's LaTechSTEP program. This program was initially piloted during the 2005-06 academic year with one high school and has grown to twelve high schools during the 2011-12 academic year. In 2007, NSF funding was awarded for the further development of LaTechSTEP (#062462). Over 300 students and over 50 teachers from 17 high schools have participated in this program since its inception. The mechanics of the LaTechSTEP program have been presented in previous publications 1-5 ; therefore, only a brief overview of the program logistics will be presented in this paper. Instead, this paper will focus on the outcomes of the project and will quantify the effect of LaTechSTEP on STEM enrollment and on university faculty/high school teacher collaboration.