Science Proficiency and Course Taking in High School

摘要

A number of previous cross-sectional studies have found a strong relationship between a students course-taking history in science during high school and his or her current achievement in science. However, it has been difficult to interpret this evidence as the effect of course taking. It is equally plausible that students who take more science courses or more difficult science courses would also have been high achievers if tested before high school. With extensive longitudinal data on both achievement and course taking now at hand, a more definitive analysis is possible. This analysis uses data on science achievement and transcript reports of science course taking of students from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) to estimate the relationship between their science course taking and the change in their science proficiency level between 8th and 12th grades.