Open AccessThree lessons from an effect evaluation of the Swedish Science and Technology for Children Programme
Author(s) -
Erik Mellander,
Joakim Svärdh
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
nordina
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 1894-1257
pISSN - 1504-4556
DOI - 10.5617/nordina.2469
Subject(s) - set (abstract data type) , subject (documents) , psychology , mathematics education , medical education , medicine , computer science , library science , programming language
This paper discusses three methodological aspects on evaluations of effects of teacher support programmes on students’ scholastic achievements. The three aspects are: i) participants and non-participants are, in general, not comparable, which needs to be accounted for, in order to avoid incorrect conclusions regarding the programme’s effects ii) programme effects can differ across subject fields, and iii) to enable precisely estimated effects it is essential to have access to standardized outcome measures. To illustrate the three aspects, we use the results in an earlier evaluation of the effects of the Swedish Science and Technology for Children programme (the NTA programme), on school achievements in grade 9. There, positive effects could be established only after adjusting for systematic differences between participants and non-participants. Moreover, the effects were limited to one subject, Physics, and visible only for results on nationwide tests, not for course grades set by the students’ teachers.