Project TRUE Year 1 Evaluation Report

The primary goal of Project TRUE is to increase the interest of high school students in pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors, by increasing their exposure to urban ecology research conducted with college mentors. Project TRUE also establishes a research and education partnership between the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Fordham University, to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a tiered mentorship educational model. The model leverages both formal (Fordham) and informal (WCS) educational practices and expertise. This evaluation report from year one (of five) summarizes activities designed to collect baseline data on program activities and participant and staff experiences at each of the four sites and across sites; and to inform program improvement (formative evaluation) and begin to investigate program effectiveness (summative evaluation).