A Comparison of Academic Performance Measures of HSTA Participants with Non-HSTA Participants: Is It Possible to Narrow the African American-White Achievement Gap?
Abstract
Historically, African American and other underserved students encounter academic challenges in pursuit of a college degree—one of which is their performance on standardized tests. This paper analyzes College Grade Point Aver-ages (CGPAs), ACT Composite (ACTC), and SAT Total (SATT) scores of students who participated in the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA), an out-of-school-time (OST) program, and Non-HSTA (NHSTA) students attending West Virginia University. Traditionally, OST programs provide academic enrichment to underserved youth to increase their chances for post-secondary entry and success. Two-Way Factorial ANOVA determined if HSTA participants performed better on academic measures than their NHSTA counterparts. The ANOVAs showed statistically significant differences based on Status (HSTA/NHSTA) and Race (African American/White) on the SATT and ACTC. Although not statistically significant, there are favorable outcomes on the CGPA for African American HSTA students comparable to their Non-HSTA counterparts.