Oregon Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement: Improving Grades in Science and Mathematics

• In Event: Factors That Optimize the Impact of Educational Programs and Interventions on Academic Outcomes in K–12 Settings: Mathematics, Literacy, Science, and Language Acquisition

Abstract

Oregon Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) focuses its afterschool programs on inventions that address key problems in developing countries, such as sustainable lighting, water transportation, and prosthetics. MESA expanded its afterschool program into four new middle schools in the 2014/15 and 2015/16 school years. We conducted an evaluation of MESA’s impact on the educational outcomes of participants in these schools using propensity score matching to identify a comparable group of students with similar characteristics but who did not participate in the MESA program. We then compared these students’ school attendance, test performance, grades, and behavior to those of MESA students. We found that MESA students had higher grades in science and mathematics classes than their peers.

Authors

• Jason Greenberg Motamedi, Education Northwest

• Malkeet Singh, Wake County Public School System