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In 1986, the New York State legislature passed legislation creating the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) and the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP). The purpose of STEP has been to assist historically underrepresented and/or economically disadvantaged secondary school students to acquire the skills needed to undertake collegiate study in scientific, technical, and health-related fields. CSTEP’s purpose has been to assist historically underrepresented and/or economically disadvantaged undergraduate and graduate students in completing preprofessional or professional programs of study that lead to licensure and to careers in scientific, technical, or health-related fields. The purpose of this report is to assess the impacts and evolution of the STEP and CSTEP initiatives during the ten-year period from 1986-87 through 1995-96. The New York State Education Department’s Bureau of Professional and Career Opportunity Programs requested that MC Squared conduct an external evaluation of the STEP and CSTEP Programs since their inception over a decade ago. During 1996-97, MC Squared reviewed annual reports for the STEP and CSTEP programs since they began, gathered quantitative data on students in the programs, administered a survey of largely open-ended questions to the directors of the state’s current (1996-97) STEP and CSTEP programs, conducted more than 40 in-depth telephone interviews with STEP and CSTEP directors, and performed case studies of two STEP and two CSTEP programs. In the case studies, MC Squared staff met and interviewed program faculty, staff, leaders and students. The aims of these activities were: (1) to identify the most significant impacts of STEP and CSTEP programs, and (2) to formulate recommendations for strengthening such programming well-grounded in the insights and experiences of program participants.
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