The Effects of Intervention Coursework on Science Achievement

Background or Context: With the implementation of three-dimensional science and high stakes testing, policymakers have bolstered science curriculum to include standards that engage students in scientific discourse while providing the needed guidelines for teaching science content. However, the field of science education has not been a policy focus to provide needed supports for struggling students to attain mastery of standards. This oversight leaves an evident gap in educational equity, because it fails to address challenges faced by students who may not meet science proficiency. Purpose, Objective, Research Question, or Focus of Study: This study examines the association between a student's enrollment in an intervention course and science outcomes. This is measured by achievement testing, describing student enrollment in an intervention course for both general intervention coursework and science-specific intervention coursework. The analysis further describes the teacher certification area for intervention courses to determine if certification impacts student achievement. Research Design: First, descriptive statistics were employed to better understand student characteristics of those enrolled in science intervention courses. Then, propensity score matching was used to match students through nearest neighbor matching based on covariates association with struggling learners. Additionally, teachers who teach intervention courses (general and science-specific) were examined by demographics and teacher certification pathway to determine if an association exists between certification pathway and student outcomes. Conclusions or Recommendations: Findings suggest that most students enrolled in a science-specific intervention course were not identified as a special education student. Those students enrolled in a science-specific intervention course had greater science outcomes than those students enrolled in a general intervention course. Additionally, teacher preparation pathway is important to consider during staffing initiatives because traditional certified teachers associate with higher student outcomes in science intervention courses, though more science intervention courses are taught by alternatively certified teachers.