9629932 Travers This project will carry out a feasibility study to produce a national set of statistical indicators for monitoring the condition of the first two years of undergraduate mathematics. This work is based on an ongoing project, Undergraduate Mathematics Education Indicators (UGMEI), of the Grants Board of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) to develop a conceptual framework for indicators of undergraduate mathematics. The UGMEI Project now under way is being carried out under the guidance of a Steering Committee, chaired by the proposer, Travers, and a national panel of mathematicians and mathematics educators. It is expected that me indicators that are developed by the proposed project will be useful in helping to monitor possible effects of various reform initiatives in undergraduate mathematics education, including the NSF calculus reform program. The feasibility study will develop a large set (approximately 200) of statistical indicators of undergraduate mathematics education, approximately 50 in each of four categories: curriculum and instruction; student outcomes and assessment; student participation; and institutional/departmental factors. I Development of the indicators will take place in the mathematics departments at each of three sites: a research university; a comprehensive state university and a community college. Each of the sites will conduct its own data collection, analysis and reporting, as well as take part in the cross-institutional data collection activities. The overall coordinating unit, directed by the proposer, will produce a data dictionary and archive, a technical report on the data collection activities, a popularized (glossy) report suitable for publication by a professional organization such as the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), a handbook for departmental administrators on how to carry out such a data collection and analysis activity, as well as 2-3 newsletter articles for use by professional organizations. A continuous update of the progress of the project will also be provided at the Project's Web Site, linked with the Home Page of the University of Illinois Office for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education.
