Student Author(s)

Grace Wiesner

Faculty Mentor(s)

Drs. Brian Yurk and Airat Bekmetjev

Document Type

Poster

Event Date

4-11-2014

Abstract

TRiO Programs were established by President Johnson in the 1960s and aim to serve at-risk students by increasing their educational opportunities. This investigation looks to determine if there is a change in GPA between the fall semester and spring semester for students in Upward Bound. It also analyzes if the average difference in GPA between the two semesters is different between the three schools that the Hope College Upward Bound Program targets. Using a student t-test, the average differences in GPA (spring-fall) for the 88 students participating in Upward Bound during the 2012-2013 school year were analyzed. The results were found to be insignificant as student t-test produced a t-statistic of -0.971 and a corresponding p-value of 0.365. A simulation based multiple means test was also used to analyze the average difference in GPA between the three target schools. These results were also insignificant as the MAD statistic was 0.19 with a corresponding p-value of 0.611. My analysis is very limited as it only looks over a short time frame and does not account for changes in GPA that occur over the four years the students are enrolled in Upward Bound.

Comments

This research was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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