Browsing by Author "Joshi, Neha"
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Item Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Aspire Program for Improving Student SAT Scores Before, During, and After COVID-19(2023-04-13) Dinh, Kristin; Joshi, Neha; Nguyen, Ngoc-Trang Adrienne; Vinod, VeenaAspire is a Houston-based educational project provided by the University of Houston Honors College Bonner Leaders Program in a partnership with Stephen F. Austin High School, which is a part of the Houston Independent School District. Aspire provides SAT exam and college readiness mentorship to low-income high school students in order to expand their educational opportunities, promoting confidence through personalized guidance and empowering them to pursue post-secondary education. By using College Board's practice SAT tests, Aspire executives design a curriculum to be used throughout the academic year. The program structure consists of in-person tutoring with high school seniors in the fall semester and high school juniors in the spring semester. Student success is measured by their performance on the SAT. Improving by at least 100 points on the SAT from their initial test scores prior to the program indicates mastery of the skills necessary to solve SAT questions. Based on changes in students' SAT scores, mentor evaluation forms, and pre- and post-program student feedback forms, Aspire is able to assess the program's effectiveness with respect to both student and mentor performance. The purpose of this study is to examine students' SAT scores after program completion from pre-COVID-19, Fall 2019, to post-COVID-19, Fall 2021. Our findings show that student SAT scores increased after the program relative to their pre-program SAT scores.Item The Effect of STEM-Focused High School Education on Texas Student Outcomes(2023-04-13) Joshi, Neha; Zaman, SamihaAs STEM programs have become increasingly popular in the past decade, it is essential to understand how this educational framework affects academic performance during and after high school. Our data project focuses on Texas high schools that offer non-core, advanced, or specialized STEM courses beyond state-requirements in math and science. While accounting for confounding variables, the project analyzes six educational outcomes: college and career readiness rates, SAT and ACT above criterion rates, four-year longitudinal graduation rates, college enrollment rates, first year above 3.0 GPA rates at four-year colleges, and first year above 3.0 GPA rates at two-year colleges. We analyzed 1,675 high school campuses to see how much STEM-focused course offerings at the high school level contribute to higher graduation and college-readiness rates at the high school level and higher enrollment and performance rates at the college level. The results do not seem to indicate any significant impact of non-core STEM coursework on educational outcomes at a state-wide level. In comparison, factors such as percentages of students identified as at-risk, economically disadvantaged, and gifted and talented were found to be more accurate indicators of educational outcomes.