ECR Projects

Explore past and current fundamental STEM education research projects across the three research areas that NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program funds, as well as across ECR funding types. Other search filters draw from both NSF's data and the ECR Hub's hand coding of award abstracts.

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STEM Workforce Development STEM Workforce Development  STEM Learning and Learning Environments STEM Learning and Learning Environments  

An Investigation of Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Programs and their Workforce Outcomes

Effective Years: 2018-2019

The Urban Institute will conduct an exploratory mixed method study of STEM apprenticeship programs to provide a foundational understanding of the characteristics and performance of STEM apprentices, including the experiences of underrepresented minorities in STEM apprenticeship programs. The proposed research also will investigate the program-level determinants of success, including program design elements that lead to higher completion rates and wage growth for apprentices. Elements of project-based learning and action learning theories will frame the research, although much of the extant research on registered apprenticeships is either descriptive or atheoretical, or it is grounded in economic theories that are principally concerned with explaining an employer's incentive to provide apprenticeship training. The results of the project will support the implementation and expansion of STEM apprenticeship programs and guide the design of new comparable STEM training programs.

The investigator will use data from the Registered Apprenticeship Partners Information Data System (RAPIDS) and state data from Virginia and Washington to answer research questions investigating the characteristics of STEM apprentices and apprenticeship programs and whether they vary over time and across different fields, completion rates for STEM apprentices and determinants of program completion for these workers, and level of wage growth apprentices achieve upon completion of their apprenticeship. The analysis will be conducted in two overlapping stages. First, multivariate modeling using administrative data on registered apprenticeship will examine the prevalence of the apprenticeship training model in STEM occupations and the characteristics of apprentices in these fields. The administrative data also track apprentice outcomes, including progress through and completion of the program and wage rates for completers. These data will be used for multivariate modeling of the determinants of apprentice outcomes. The findings from the multivariate models of apprentice outcomes will inform the development of protocols for the second stage of the analysis - content analysis of apprenticeship work process schedules and interviews with representatives of STEM apprenticeship programs. The interviews will explore how apprenticeship training supports workforce development, promising strategies for STEM apprenticeships, and the strengths and weaknesses of the training model. The research is expected to make important contributions to future implementation of registered apprenticeships in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.