Table 11.
High school STEM experiences reported by students in Texas ISHS and comparison schools
| All Students | Hispanics | African Americans | Females | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISHS | Comparison School | ISHS | Comparison School | ISHS | Comparison School | ISHS | Comparison School | |
| Item/Scale | (n = 1041) | (n = 1795) | (n = 703) | (n = 1183) | (n = 118) | (n = 191) | (n = 486) | (n = 907) |
| Math instruction included advanced skills (scale) | 3.09 | 2.99 | 3.11 | 2.98 | 3.13 | 3.02 | 3.09 | 2.94 |
| STEM integrated into math instruction (scale) | 2.94** | 2.73 | 3.00*** | 2.74 | 2.87 | 2.73 | 2.82** | 2.58 |
| Science instruction included advanced skills (scale) | 3.43 | 3.31 | 3.43 | 3.33 | 3.47 | 3.37 | 3.51* | 3.27 |
| STEM integrated into science instruction (scale) | 3.42 | 3.23 | 3.41 | 3.25 | 3.41 | 3.32 | 3.51*** | 3.21 |
| Teachers’ high expectations for all students (scale) | 2.96*** | 2.73 | 2.97** | 2.74 | 2.86 | 2.68 | 2.94** | 2.73 |
| Teachers’ respect for students (scale) | 2.99** | 2.84 | 3.03** | 2.86 | 2.92* | 2.76 | 3.02** | 2.83 |
| Number of college and career readiness supports used | 6.25** | 5.10 | 6.70** | 5.43 | 6.08 | 5.39 | 6.53* | 5.41 |
| Talking with teachers about academic and career plans | 2.38 | 2.25 | 2.27 | 2.14 | 2.46 | 2.35 | 2.46 | 2.39 |
| Talking with counselors about academic and career plans | 2.36* | 2.04 | 2.37 | 1.90 | 2.40* | 2.07 | 2.55* | 2.22 |
| Talking with parents about academic and career plans | 2.27 | 2.23 | 2.46 | 2.40 | 2.45 | 2.30 | 2.63 | 2.50 |
Source: iSTEM Grade 12 Student Survey administered in 2013–2014; predicted values from HLM models for each of the dependent variables shown in the Item/Scale left‐hand column, adjusting for differences in school and student characteristics between ISHS and comparison schools. Separate analyses were conducted for the overall student sample and for subgroup samples. Covariates data obtained from Texas Education Research Center data.
Instruction scales are averages of 5‐point scale items: Never [0] to almost every day [4].
Teachers’ Expectations and Respect scales are averages of 4‐point scale items: Strongly disagree [1] to strongly agree [4].
Talked About Academic and Career Plans variables are counts of the number of topics discussed from the following list: (1) taking math courses, (2) taking science courses, (3) going to college, and (4) careers.
*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.