9453088 Rogers Project EDGE--Eliminating Discrimination by Gender in Education -- is an experimental, multi- level mentoring project that targets young women at key educational transition points, along with pre-college teachers, counselors, and university faculty. The overall goal is to encourage and support the interest in, and the retention of more young women in science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM) by increasing the frequency, consistency, and coherence of positive experiences and messages about participation in these fields. To accomplish this goal, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) proposes a tiered approach to address several issues that have been identified by research as key events that discourage young women in SEM fields. Project EDGE focuses on these issues by making systemic changes in instructional styles of teachers, connecting young women's learning about SEM fields with real-life career experiences, and sharing resources and data with others. Project EDGE recognizes current research which identified teachers as the "first line of attack" for addressing the problems of classroom equity. The project seeks to sensitize the secondary teachers, counselors and university faculty, who interact so closely with young women, to the pedagogical practices that promote gender equity, provide collaborative learning opportunities, and expand their interface with the current professional SEM world. The project provides ongoing mentoring and support to provide role-modeling and exposure to successful professional SEM women for young women in high school and the first year of college. Mentoring relationships are developed with: professional women working in SEM careers with regard to career information and life style choices; teachers, who are involved in instructional development and support groups; and, peers and other students involved in the project. Throughout the project, students have many opportunities to communicate informally with women in SEM careers through a series of face-to-face activities complementing on-going communication taking place via distance learning technologies and data networks. Thus, based upon RIT's encouraging experience with a pilot program of this type, the proposal expands the concept to reach more young women and develops a comprehensive, longitudinal study to explore the pedagogical, institutional, and support issues involved in promoting women's participation in SEM fields. The project also seeks to share results and processes through information networking and dissemination designed to encourage replication of the project in other communities. ***
