The Effects of an Overnight Environmental Science Education Program on Students' Attendance Rate Change for Middle School Year

Programs that engage middle students in participatory, real-world, and hands-on field based instruction can be a powerful asset to the educational experiences for students; motivating and inspiring some to appreciate and value school in a different way. Overnight environmental science programs have a unique opportunity to support students by creating experiences where students can participate in learning in vastly different ways from what they may engage with in the traditional 4-walled classroom, while concurrently developing a relationship with the natural world. Decreasing educational budgets and increased need to substantiate educational programs in terms of their impact on students has added pressure for overnight environmental science programs to validate their impact through quantitative means. Utilizing overnight environmental science education program attendance records and merging them with school district data relating to attendance, this study investigates the impact of one such overnight environmental science program on students' attendance rate change. Analyzing the secondary data using multiple linear regressions modeling, researchers explored how the overnight environmental program impacted student attendance rate change and how it varied by demographic characteristics to understand if and how the program addresses school district and educational policy reform targets.