Evaluation of the Statewide stem advanced Placement Program Year 2 Final Report
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- Data Collection Activities
- Data Analysis
MethodologyEvaluation DesignThis evaluation study uses a mixed-method design. The interim report focused on quantitative information gathered through a teacher survey and teacher training participation data provided by the vendor, as well as qualitative data drawn from interviews of key personnel and open-ended survey items. Those findings informed the following research questions:
The final portion of the evaluation, described in this final report, includes quantitative analysis of data to inform the number and type of AP courses offered by the schools included in the Advancing STEM AP initiative, the number of students taking and passing those courses, and the number of students taking and passing AP exams. The findings address the following research questions:
Based on the findings from interviews and educator surveys described in the interim report, it became clear that English language arts (ELA) courses and teachers are an integral part of the Advancing STEM AP initiative. Thus, ELA has also been included in this portion of the study. All analyses of AP course availability, AP course participation, and AP exam taking and passing include ELA, mathematics, and science. In collaboration with ESE, the determination was made to use SY 2011–2012 (SY12) as baseline year for this evaluation. Thus, the first year evaluation compared data from the baseline to the Year 1, SY 2012–2013 (SY13), data. During this second year evaluation, a third data point has been added with SY 2013–2014 (SY14). All tables include data from SY12, SY13, and SY14. The research questions described above are based on the logic model depicted in Figure 1. Figure 1. Advancing STEM AP Logic Model Support district efforts to offer additional Advanced Placement courses Provide PD to current and newly recruited Advanced Placement teachers Identify and encourage underrepresented students to enroll in Advanced Placement courses Increased underrepresented student participation in AP courses Improved teacher knowledge and skills More students from underrepresented groups successfully completing ELA, mathematics, and science AP exams coursework
Overall Outcome Data Collection ActivitiesThe data to address the last set of research questions for this final report comprise large data sets as described below. ESE Databases UMDI submitted an Interagency Service Agreement to ESE to obtain data from the following student-level and teacher-level databases:
MMSI Database MMSI has provided UMDI with a database of all schools that have participated in the Advancing STEM AP initiative. The database includes school, district, MMSI cohort, and ESE school code. This database includes schools that have worked in this program with MMSI since 2008. However, this evaluation includes the 48 schools that originally participated in both SY12 and SY13 (for the first evaluation). Follow-up data are provided for these schools for SY14 as well. Data AnalysisData for all schools involved in the Advancing STEM AP evaluation were extracted from ESE databases for analysis. Variables from the MMSI database were merged with ESE data to provide additional demographic information about the schools. Data were analyzed initially using descriptive statistics. Analysis of Variance was used to test for statistically significant differences with some aggregated data. Advanced Placement databases were merged with SIMS data to provide variables for subgroup analysis. Students who took an AP exam in ELA, mathematics, or science were included in the analysis. SCS databases were also merged with demographic variables from SIMS.1 The number of unique ELA, mathematics, and science courses and course sections offered overall and in each school was identified based on a combination of the SCS course location, course code, and section number. Sections offered at colleges or online are not included in section counts. To identify students who were enrolled in AP courses, as well as those who completed, passed, and earned credit for the courses, variables were created to track levels of participation. For the AP exam taking and passing section, data were analyzed at two levels. Descriptive analyses were performed on student-level data, and inferential analyses, in the form of repeated measures general linear modeling procedures, were performed on school-level data. In the GLM analyses, dependent variables included the number and percentage of exam takers, the percentage of exam takers who passed, and the percentage of students who passed as a proportion of the larger population of students. Independent variables included gender, high needs status, and data point. Separate procedures were performed on the data for each exam type (ELA, mathematics, science, and a composite variable assessing the taking of at least one English, mathematics, or science exam). All data were analyzed using a statistical software package (SPSS). Directory: research -> reports -> 2015 research -> Author (s) title research -> The Media and Intercollegiate Sports research -> Project Title: Research and Development for goes-r risk Reduction Principal Investigator research -> Why Everyday Life Matters: Class, Community and Making Life Livable Les Back research -> Ecocritique and the Materialities of Animation reports -> Evaluation of the Statewide stem advanced Placement Program Year 2 Interim Report reports -> 75 Pleasant Street, Malden, Massachusetts 02148-4906 Telephone: (781) 338-3000 reports -> Liquefied Natural Gas: Implications for the Evolving Global Energy Market a light at the end of the pipeline 2015 -> Springfield Public Schools’ Effective Educator Coach Program Download 7.46 Mb. Share with your friends:
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