Advancing the Mentorship of Academic-Year Governor's School (AYGS) Student Research Across VA: Teacher Professional Development for the 19 VA AYGS at Front Royal

Abstract

This work will present preliminary results from a new 4-VA funded initiative that seeks to increase the research competitiveness of the 4-VA universities, increase the access to and success rates of students in STEM courses, and improve awareness about degree completion programs for underserved populations across VA. This program helps to train teachers across the 19 VA Academic Year Governor's Schools in methods and strategies by Mason faculty, to mentor undergraduate-level STEM-based research to students in these specialized schools, by offering a 5-day credit-bearing summer institute at Front Royal. Benchmarks will include documenting trends in student performance data, trends in the number of and quality of research experiences offered to students, as well as the number of AYGS faculty and students impacted by the summer institute.