Business Finance - Operations Management Data analytical assignment 2

Description:

The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, commonly referred to as its acronym STAAR, is a series of standardized tests used in Texas public primary and secondary schools to assess a student's achievements and knowledge learned in the grade level. Starting in third grade, Texas students are required to take the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness test, or STAAR, every year. This dataset contains test scores and demographic information for randomly selected third grade students from the Texoma region

This data set contains only data from randomly selected third-grade students in from the Texoma region in the 2023-2024 academic year. The data were collected for the purpose of identifying significant predictors in both the home environment and the scholastic setting that may influence educational outcomes. Of particular interest in this study is the evaluation of a new Prep Course designed to prepare children to be able to navigate and succeed on standardized tests. This course was introduced to select schools on a trial basis to determine the efficacy of the program. Also of interest is the family socioeconomic status, indicated by the highest education level of either parent (or guardian) and the indication whether the child qualifies for free or discounted lunch. Test scores are percentile ranks relative to the statewide performance of third grade students in the three facets of the STAAR test: math, reading, and writing. The following measures were included in the data:

Variables:

· StudentID - Participant's identification number which looks strangely similar to the original row number of the dataset.

· Gender – The biological sex of the child, i.e. Female/Male.

· Testing Group – Unique testing identifier provided to make this appear to be a true randomized block design.

· Parental Level of Education – the highest education level completed by either parent (or guardian), categorized by: High School, Some College, Associates Degree, or Bachelors Degree. 

· Lunch – Binary measure indicating whether or not the child is eligible for free or discounted lunch, indicated by free/reduced for qualifying students and standard for students paying the standard fees. 

· Test Prep Course– Binary measure to indicate the completion of the newly introduced Prep Course before STAAR testing began in Spring 2024. This measure is indicated as Complete for those whose schools were included in the initiative in time to complete the program or None if the student’s school was not included.