Search results

The National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM), also known as Students' Perspectives about the Transition to High School (PATHS), is a longitudinal research study and program evaluation administered by the University of Texas. The purpose of NSLM is to determine if introducing students to a positive growth mindset as they transition to high school will help improve students' academic success during high school and beyond. A growth mindset was defined as a belief amongst students that intelligence can grow and develop, learning is purposeful, hard work can lead to gained skills and accomplished goals, and that these beliefs can maintain motivation in the face of obstacles.

The sample consisted of more than 16,000 9th grade students across 74 high schools in 27 states. Number of courses taken, course level, and GPA before and after high school were measured within English, math, social studies, and science. Numerous demographic variables were collected for students, teachers, and schools. Student demographics included gender, race, and age. Teacher demographics consisted of race, teaching methods, and educational background. School characteristics such as location, course offerings, and students' average test scores were assessed.

The Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) is a project that was funded by the National Science Foundation in 1985 and was designed to examine the development of: (1) student attitudes toward and achievement in science, (2) student attitudes toward and achievement in mathematics, and (3) student interest in and plans for a career in science, mathematics, or engineering, during middle school, high school, and the first four years post-high school. The relative influence parents, home, teachers, school, peers, media, and selected informal learning experiences had on these developmental patterns was considered as well.

The older LSAY cohort, Cohort One, consisted of a national sample of 2,829 tenth-grade students in public high schools throughout the United States. These students were followed for an initial period of seven years, ending four years after high school in 1994. Cohort Two, consisted of a national sample of 3,116 seventh-grade students in public schools that served as feeder schools to the same high schools in which the older cohort was enrolled. These students were followed for an initial period of seven years, concluding with a telephone interview approximately one year after the end of high school in 1994.

Beginning in the fall of 1987, the LSAY collected a wide array of information including: (1) a science achievement test and a mathematics achievement test each fall, (2) an attitudinal and experience questionnaire at the beginning and end of each school year, (3) reports about education and experience from all science and math teachers in each school, (4) reports on classroom practice by each science and math teacher serving a LSAY student, (5) an annual 25-minute telephone interview with one parent of each student, and (6) extensive school-level information from the principal of each study school.

In 2006, the NSF funded a proposal to re-contact the original LSAY students (then in their mid-30's) to resume data collection to determine their educational and occupational outcomes. Through an extensive tracking activity which involved: (1) online tracking, (2) newsletter mailing, (3) calls to parents and other relatives, (4) use of alternative online search methods, and (5) questionnaire mailing, more than 95 percent of the original sample of 5,945 LSAY students were located or accounted for. In addition to re-contacting the students, the proposal defined a new eligible sample of approximately 5,000 students and these young adults were asked to complete a survey in 2007. A second survey was conducted in the fall of 2008 that sought to gather updated information about occupational and education outcomes and to measure the civic scientific literacy of these young adults, in which to date more than 3,200 participants have responded. A third survey was conducted in the fall of 2009 that sought to gather updated information about occupational and education outcomes and to measure the participants' use of selected informal science education resources, in which to date more than 3,200 participants have responded. A fourth survey was conducted in the fall of 2010 that sought to gather updated information about occupational and education outcomes, as well as provided questions about the participants' interactions with their children, in which to date more than 3,200 participants have responded. Finally, a fifth survey was conducted in the fall of 2011 that sought to gather updated information about education outcomes and included an expanded occupation battery for all participants, as well as an expanded spousal information battery for all participants. The 2011 questionnaire also included items about the 2011 Fukushima incident in Japan along with attitudinal items about nuclear power and global climate change. To date approximately 3,200 participants responded to the 2011 survey.

There were no surveys conducted in 2012 or 2013. Beginning in 2014 the LSAY was funded by the National Institute on Aging for five years. This data release adds the 2017 data to the previous data release that included data through 2016.

The public release data files include information collected from the national probability sample students, their parents, and the science and mathematics teachers in the students' schools. The data covers the initial seven years, beginning in the fall of 1987, as well as the data collected in the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 questionnaires.

Part 1: LSAY Merged Cohort (Base File) contains student and parent data from both cohorts of the LSAY from 1987-1994 and student follow-up data from 2007-2011 and 2014-2017. Additionally, Parts 2 - 5 contain information gathered from two teacher background questionnaires and two principal questionnaires from 1987-1994.

In October 2013, the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana (BBBS-KY), was funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to implement a mentoring research best practices project that explored whether three types of parent/guardian level variables (psychosocial parent/family characteristics, parent engagement in the mentoring match, and parenting style) influence match quality, match length, and youth outcomes.

This study was designed to describe these factors, as well as investigate how these factors impact match length, match strength, and youth program outcomes. Data to inform both objectives was collected using a longitudinal multimode approach with youth, mentors and parents in the BBBS-KY program in the metro Louisville area. In addition, data from 16 local school districts provided measures of academic performance, school attendance, and disciplinary suspensions. Data were collected at multiple time points from youth, volunteer mentors, and parents/guardians. These data included BBBS-America standard surveys (Youth Outcomes Survey, and Volunteer and Youth Strength of Relationship Surveys). PIRE supplemented the standard BBBS data collection efforts with project-specific baseline volunteer mentor survey and several formative and outcome based inserts to supplement the data that was regularly collected from youth and mentors. The PIRE and BBBS-KY teams also created a project-specific parent/guardian survey to better understand the impact of parental factors on match dynamics and youth mentoring program outcomes. Due to low literacy levels of parents/guardians, this survey was administered as a mixed-mode, audio-computer assisted interview (ACASI). Additional data sources for this study included data from (a) coding of qualitative case review notes for selected aspects of matches by BBBS-KY match support specialists, (b) academic data collected from school districts, and (c) data collected on general match characteristics (e.g., match closure status) collected by BBBS-KY as part of their standard business operations. Most measures were collected early in the match (either match formation or three months into the match) and at 12 months into the match.