Several of Gibson’s education researchers will present at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). The annual meeting will be held Friday, April 5^th – Tuesday, April 9^th, in Toronto, Canada. During our presentations, Gibson will showcase results from four of our recent research studies:

• An exploration of the supply of and enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) course offerings
• A Randomized Controlled Trial of a project-based learning approach to Advanced Placement courses
• An in-depth analysis of physical fitness assessment data
• A comprehensive evaluation of a higher education student success initiative

History of Education Research at AERA Annual Meetings

Each year, the AERA Annual Meeting is attended by more than 14,000 AERA members, which includes scholars from fields and disciplines aligned to education research as well as education policy experts and education research practitioners. Last year, members of Gibson’s team presented at the 2018 annual meeting. During this presentation, they delivered a paper titled “Associations between predictive indicators and postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and math success among Hispanic students in Texas”.

Expanded Presence of Gibson Education Researchers at the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting

This year, we are excited to expand our presence at the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting through four different sessions. These sessions will include a presentation on implementation findings from a large-scale randomized controlled trial examining the impact of a Project-Based Learning approach to teaching Advanced Placement. Additionally, these sessions will include roundtable discussions for three other papers. Above all, our firm is excited to again participate in the largest gathering of education researchers in the world.

Schedule of Gibson’s 2019 AERA Annual Meeting Education Research Presentations

If you are able to join us in April in Toronto, please mark the following dates, times, and locations on your calendar. You can also explore the program for the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting and add our sessions to your personal schedule there.

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Presentation on Advanced STEM Course Offerings and Completion in High School: A Study of Supply and Enrollment

This study explored advanced STEM course offerings and course taking among Texas students to investigate availability and enrollment for different student groups. The research team used longitudinal student records to examine patterns of course offerings (from over 1,500 schools) and student course completion (for almost one million students). Findings showed urban and suburban schools serving the highest proportions of Hispanic and Black students offered the most advanced STEM courses. However, smaller proportions of Hispanic and Black students, compared to White students, completed three or more advanced STEM courses, even among high performing students. These findings suggest a need for increasing Hispanic and Black student enrollment in advanced courses and identifying mechanisms other than increasing course offerings to do so.

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Presentation on Shifting to Project-Based Learning in the Advanced Placement Context

Students must learn deeply to develop and transfer skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Student-centered “project-based learning” (PBL) may be more effective than “transmission” lecture-based instruction at developing deeper learning. In any instructional context, shifting from transmission to PBL is challenging for teachers and students. The Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum framework breadth and examination focus exacerbate the challenge. We harnessed a large-scale randomized controlled trial to investigate if and how experienced AP Environmental Science and U.S. Government treatment teachers could shift their practice towards PBL. Though challenging and under conditions of optimal support, relative to randomly-assigned control teachers treatment teachers shifted in the direction of greater emphasis on deeper learning objectives, more student-centered pedagogy, more authenticity, and less lecture and explicit examination-preparation.

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Presentation on The Effect of Physical Fitness on Attendance and the Financial Benefits Thereof

A considerable amount of research has established connections between student fitness and education outcomes (Hudson et al. 2012, Grissom, 2005; Bezold et al., 2014). In this study, we consider the cost implications for differences in student fitness and attendance rates using a statewide, multi-year, individual-level, dataset. We find that students who are less fit attend fewer days of school (adjusting for other covariates) and this has a financial cost for schools in lost daily attendance payments. Further, the aggregate cost associated increases in absences is approximately $10,982,000 dollars each year across Texas schools in study timeframe. These findings have implications for education policy and curricula guidelines regarding physical education programs as well as education finance and state aid for schools.

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Presentation on AVID: Examining the Relationships Between Student-Centered Andragogy and Student Skills, Confidence, and Use of University Resources

The AVID for Higher Education (AHE) Student Success Initiative was created in response to a growing need at institutions of higher education to increase student persistence and graduation. The focus of the AHE initiative is to transform college-level instruction from the lecture-based transmission form to high engagement, collaborative learning in freshman courses and beyond. This study uses regression analyses to examine the relationship between the use of student-centered andragogy and skill-based content and the student’s self-perceived skills and confidence and student’s use of university resources. There are positive relationships between the use of student-centered andragogy and (1) a student’s perception of their improved skills and competency to be successful in college and (2) a student’s willingness to access university resources.