Project 1: Standardized Testing, Statistical Summaries and Inference

Problem Statement

There are still potential for SAT participation rate to increase across all states. Given the data set of SAT and ACT in 2017 and 2018, we hope to identify insightful trend to suggest effective measures to implement to increase participation rate; especially in states with low SAT participation rate.

Executive Summary

Contents:

• 2017 Data Import & Cleaning
• 2018 Data Import and Cleaning
• Exploratory Data Analysis
• Data Visualization
• Descriptive and Inferential Statistics
• Outside Research
• Conclusions and Recommendations

Data Dictionary

Feature	Type	Dataset	Min	Max	Description
state	object	SAT	-	-	The state of USA with students participated in SAT & ACT
sat17_participation	float	SAT	0	100	The 2017 participation rate of students of each state for SAT
sat17_ebrw	float	SAT	200	800	The 2017 average score of Evidence-Based Reading and Writing for each state
sat17_math	float	SAT	200	800	The 2017 average score of Math for each state
sat17_total	float	SAT	400	1600	The 2017 average total score of SAT for each state
sat18_participation	float	SAT	0	100	The 2018 participation rate of students of each state for SAT
sat18_ebrw	float	SAT	200	800	The 2018 average score of Evidence-Based Reading and Writing for each state
sat18_math	float	SAT	200	800	The 2018 average score of Math for each state
sat18_total	float	SAT	400	1600	The 2018 average total score of SAT for each state
act17_participation	float	ACT	0	100	The 2017 participation rate of students of each state for ACT
act17_english	float	ACT	1	36	The 2017 average score of English for each state
act17_math	float	ACT	1	36	The 2017 average score of Math for each state
act17_reading	float	ACT	1	36	The 2017 average score of Reading for each state
act17_science	float	ACT	1	36	The 2017 average score of Science for each state
act17_composite	float	ACT	1	36	The2017 average composite score of ACT for each state
act18_participation	float	ACT	0	100	The 2018 participation rate of students of each state for ACT
act18_english	float	ACT	1	36	The 2018 average score of English for each state
act18_math	float	ACT	1	36	The 2018 average score of Math for each state
act18_reading	float	ACT	1	36	The 2018 average score of Reading for each state
act18_science	float	ACT	1	36	The 2018 average score of Science for each state
act18_composite	float	ACT	1	36	The2018 average composite score of ACT for each state

Distributions Summary

Variable	Mean	STD	Q1	Q2	Q3	Min	Max	Description based on statistics & boxplot
sat17_participation	40	35	4	38	66	2	100	Distribution is skewed to the left with a wide spread data from mean
sat17_ebrw	569	45	533	559	613	482	644	Distribution is slightly skewed to the right
sat17_math	557	47	523	548	599	468	651	Distribution is not skewed
sat17_total	1126	93	1055	1107	1212	950	1295	Distribution is not skewed
sat17_participation	46	37	5	52	78	2	100	Distribution is skewed to the left with a wide spread data from mean
sat18_ebrw	564	48	535	552	611	180	643	Distribution is slightly skewed to the right
sat18_math	556	48	522	544	594	480	655	Distribution is not skewed
sat18_total	1120	94	1058	1098	1204	977	1298	Distribution is not skewed
act17_participation	65	32	31	69	100	8	100	Distribution is skewed to the right with a wide spread data from mean
act17_english	21	2	19	20	23	16	26	Distribution is not skewed
act17_math	21	2	19	21	23	18	25	Distribution is slightly skewed to the left
act17_reading	22	2	21	22	24	18	26	Distribution is slightly skewed to the right
act17_science	22	2	20	21	23	18	25	Distribution is not skewed
act17_composite	22	2	20	21	24	18	26	Distribution is not skewed
act18_participation	61	34	29	66	100	7	100	Distribution is skewed to the right with a wide spread data from mean
act18_english	21	3	19	20	24	17	26	Distribution is not skewed
act18_math	21	2	19	21	23	18	25	Distribution is slightly skewed to the left
act18_reading	22	2	21	22	24	18	26	Distribution is not skewed
act18_science	21	2	18	20	21	23	25	Distribution is not skewed
act18_composite	22	2	20	21	24	18	26	Distribution is not skewed

Conclusion/Recommendation

Based on the hypothesis testing, there may be a higher probability that the difference between the mean participation rate of SAT and ACT is decreasing. We also know from our dataset that the mean participation rate of ACT dropped from 65 to 61 and mean participation rate of SAT increased from 40 to 46. Hence we can infer that there is a trend in USA with more and more students taking up SAT.

Our previous analysis of the 3 states (Colorado, Florida and New York) showed that SAT's wavier and allowing students to take exam during schol days program have increased the popularity of SAT effectively.

Hence, the focus of the colleage board should be targeting a state that has not yet make ACT mandatory with low SAT participation rate, which is the state of Iowa. The following recommendation are made based on the Every Student Succeeds Act requirement signed by President Obama in 2015. Source

Recommendation on increasing participation rate in Iowa:

1. Widen the wavier eligibility of students to more lower income group

2. Consider providing more support in terms of preparing for SAT exam to lower income group, especially in math and science (where the average scores are lower than that of Evidence-Based, Reading and Writing)

3. Reach out to minority group such as black african american and provide equity opportunity to the groups to take SAT

4. Create awareness about SAT's inclusive program to state government and universities in Iowa

References:

1. Chalkbeat.org : https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2015/12/23/goodbye-act-hello-sat-a-significant-change-for-colorado-high-schoolers/ https://chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2018/01/11/record-number-of-new-york-city-students-take-sat-after-city-offers-test-for-free/

2. Washinton Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-usage-declined-in-29-states-over-7-years/2014/03/15/f4504cfc-a5ff-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html

3. Orlando Sentinal: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-act-sat-florida-scores-20181024-story.html

4. US Department of Education: https://www.ed.gov/esea