This memorandum provides information related to Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) course enrollment, exam participation, and exam performance during the 2020-2021 school year in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). In this memo, the results of 2021 students were compared with those of 2019 students. It is important…

This Research Brief summarizes the performance of Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) students participating in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. The IB program was offered at six M-DCPS high schools in 2019-2020. Over 2,900 assessments were completed by M-DCPS students in 28 subject areas in 2019-2020. The number of IB…

Answering a call put forth decades ago by the higher education community and the federal government, we investigated the impact of US college coursework on student learning gains. Students gained, on average, 3.72 points on a 66-item test of quantitative and scientific reasoning after experiencing 1.5 years of college. Gain scores were unrelated…

Historically, African American and other underserved students encounter academic challenges in pursuit of a college degree--one of which is their performance on standardized tests. This paper analyzes College Grade Point Averages (CGPAs), ACT Composite (ACTC), and SAT Total (SATT) scores of students who participated in the Health Sciences and…

This study reviews literature on racially equitable admissions practices relevant to graduate programs in STEM. Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores correlate more strongly with race, gender, and socioeconomic status than performance metrics for research during or after graduate school. Structural changes to admissions processes that can improve…

Students exhibit a variety of test-related behaviors before and during the American College Testing (ACT®) test. Previous ACT research has identified associations between test-related behavior and ACT test performance. For example, test preparation has been shown to be associated with modest ACT Composite score gains on the second ACT testing…

This report explores Massachusetts' progress toward achieving equity in computer science (CS) education. The authors examine 12 years of Advanced Placement CS data, identifying both successes and ongoing challenges to equitable CS education in the Commonwealth. The authors also raise questions to help inform future decision-making and…

We obtained 180 pre- and post-test surveys to investigate how an established financial literacy program may have increased financial knowledge of residents in a work release program in Augusta, Georgia. Paired t tests analyzed changes in subjective and objective financial knowledge, understanding of banking and credit, and financial attitudes. OLS…

This study investigated predictors for ACT Science scores, a test used by many universities to rank applicants. This study utilized quantitative research methods using the Montana Office of Public Instruction's GEMS (Growth and Enhancement of Montana Students) data set. All advanced statistical analysis was conducted using Stata software IC/15.…

Mental health (MH) stigma affects help seeking behaviors of youth, particularly youth of color. This article reports the impact of Look Around (LA), a social media campaign designed to reduce MH stigma and increase help seeking in 6th- to 12th-grade youth in one Midwestern county. The campaign utilized movie theater advertising, social media,…

This report presents Advanced Placement (AP) examination participation and performance results in Texas and the United States for the 2018-19 school year. The results are for public and nonpublic schools combined and are presented by race/ethnicity and gender. [For "Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Examination Results in…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school nurse presence and graduation rates, absenteeism, and American College Test (ACT) scores. A state-wide survey of all public high schools was undertaken (participation rate of 99.1%). Survey data obtained from individual high schools provided information on the employment…

Recent work examining science test performance in the earliest grades of school has demonstrated that science test score gaps by race/ethnicity are apparent as early as kindergarten and that, in a number of cases, the racial/ethnic test score gaps in science are significantly larger than the corresponding gaps in reading or mathematics. This study…

Background: Many misconceptions about breast cancer exist. College students have the opportunity to perform breast cancer risk-reducing behaviors. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess breast cancer knowledge among university students and examine the influence of breast cancer knowledge on health behaviors for breast cancer prevention.…

This study examines the association between college-bound friends and college enrollment using restricted transcript data from the High School Longitudinal Study. Propensity score matching and school fixed effects models suggest that having close college-bound friends is positively associated with enrolling in college. However, Black and Latino…