Summary

Study Participants

In the 2018–2019 school year, 95 middle schools in 10 different counties used STEMscopes for 8th grade. These schools served a total of 99,707 students (15,839 of which were 8th grade students) and represented a range of sizes and percentage of minority and economically disadvantaged students (see Table 1). On average, these schools had over 1,000 students, and were about 75 percent minority and 65 percent economically disadvantaged. On average, science proficiency in these schools did not change between the 2018 and the 2019 school year, while the state average decreased by 4 percentage points.

In the 2018–2019 school year, 95 middle schools in 10 different counties used STEMscopes for 8th grade. These schools served a total of 99,707 students (15,839 of which were 8th grade students) and represented a range of sizes and percentage of minority and economically disadvantaged students (see Table 1). On average, these schools had over 1,000 students, and were about 75 percent minority and 65 percent economically disadvantaged. On average, science proficiency in these schools did not change between the 2018 and the 2019 school year, while the state average decreased by 4 percentage points.

Study Design

Data for this study came from three sources. First, schools that used STEMscopes for 8th grade in the 2018–2019 school year were identified through the STEMscopes analytics platform. Each school was assigned a usage score comprising the number of times STEMscopes online components were accessed or visited by teachers during this school year. These usage data served as a measure of dosage or intensity of implementation at each STEMscopes school.

Second, school performance on the SSA was accessed through the Florida Department of Education website. The 2019 school proficiency rate, as measured by the percent of students who were deemed proficient in science based on their performance on the SSA, was used as the outcome variable. The 2018 school proficiency rate was used as a control variable; STEMscopes usage was examined as a predictor of gains in student proficiency from 2018 to 2019. Third, demographic information from the schools was obtained from Florida’s Education Information Portal.

Analyses and Results