The primary purpose of the Evaluative Research and Capacity Building (ERCB) Delta project is to develop an interest and capacity for evaluative studies of critical STEM educational issues and problems among STEM faculty at five of the regional and historically black Mississippi Delta higher education institutions. Although these colleges and universities graduate most of the teachers and administrators working in Delta schools, with the exception of those trained in Phase I of this project, the faculties have not previously been involved in comprehensive evaluation of STEM educational policies and practices. The principal objective of this proposal (Phase II of the project) is to continue the work begun under the original project as a model to enhance the evaluation capacity of a selected group of faculty members, and the infrastructure of institutions that serve the Mississippi Delta region. This entails developing faculty skills and institutional expertise in order to build sustained capacity to conduct evaluation and evaluation research on STEM and STEM-related issues.
