The Effect of Middle School STEM Curriculum on Science and Math Achievement Score

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of STEM education on seventh and eighth grade student achievement in science and mathematics. The research design was a quantitative non-experimental research study that aimed to determine student achievement in mathematics and science among seventh and eighth grade students enrolled in an additional class solely focused on STEM education. The participants in this study were 2071 seventh and eighth grade students from four suburban middle schools located in West Tennessee. Data from the 2015 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP), a summative standardized assessment used throughout the state of Tennessee, seventh and eighth grade science and mathematics subtests were analyzed to determine if STEM education impacted mathematics and science achievement. Two ANCOVAs were required for this analysis. Significant differences between students enrolled in STEM and those not enrolled in STEM were observed for eighth grade students in both math and science achievement scores on the state assessment. Also, the strength of the relationship between science and mathematics for seventh and eighth grade students was examined in this study. This question was tested using the Pearson r to determine if a relationship exists between the science and mathematics scores of STEM students as measured by the TCAP. The strength of that relationship was determined by the Pearson r, as well. There was a significant, strong, positive correlation between the mathematics and science scores of students enrolled in STEM education classes in comparison to those who were not enrolled in STEM.