Using a Science Mentorship Program to Alleviate Education Inequality

As seen in a study conducted in San Antonio’s school districts, education inequality is a major issue many impoverished communities face. Districts in San Antonio with higher percentages of economically disadvantaged students had lower scores on the STAAR. To shorten this gap, student mentors from the Bonner Student Leaders work to improve students’ grades and STAAR exam scores through the Science Mentoring for a Richer Tomorrow (SMART) program. Through hands-on STEM-focused experiments, this program promotes enthusiasm for STEM for fifth grade students at Shear Elementary while reinforcing foundational science concepts that are covered in the Texas STAAR exam. Due to covid-19, our project has shifted to serving mentees through online platforms to conduct weekly meetings between mentor and mentees. Using Microsoft teams, mentees go through experiment kits, learn about the concepts, and test their retention and understanding with a two- question quiz. The program measures success by tracking responses to locate students who may be struggling in order to adapt to their needs. The pandemic has significantly hindered the progress of the program by lowering student fidelity and commitment to the program; however, the project has worked to adapt to circumstances and improve attendance rates as a result. This presentation presents the current logic model for SMART and uses a falsifiable logic model to indicate where SMART was delivered or not delivered as planned during the pandemic. Through this evaluation, the SMART team was able to understand strengths and deficits in their adaptation to teaching remotely.