Issues in the evaluation of a program to provide assistance to science teachers in inner-city secondary schools

Revitalizing Achievement by using Instrumentation in Science Education (RAISE) is an NSF funded program in which undergraduate and graduate engineering students (Fellows) assist high school science teachers, using sensor-based experiments as laboratory exercises to test concepts taught in the classroom. Fellows assist the teachers in presenting the labs and checking that students understand their assignments. Fellows are also utilized to help teachers in other ways such as clarifying concepts taught in class and to assure that students working in groups were following their assignments properly and understood the main concepts involved. Initial analysis of grades and test scores of students involved in RAISE after the first year of the program have not shown any major academic changes or differences that can be attributed to the project. Issues involved in making such comparisons in a real-life setting are raised in the paper. Questionnaire data from the high school students and their teachers do suggest that there have been positive effects. These are reflected in the students judging the RAISE contributions to the class - the sensor-based experiments and the Fellow - as having positive educational value. There also are some indications that RAISE class students seem more interested in science than their counterparts in non-RAISE related classes and that they value having a Fellow involved in future science classes. The high school teachers are generally supportive of the program, find the Fellows quite useful in a variety of ways and rate the sensor-based laboratory exercises as effective. The majority of teachers recommend participation in the program to other teachers. Fellows, too, recommend the program to other university students. They generally have found the program a rewarding experience that has helped them in developing their own science skills and most would be interested in continuing the experience.