兰德-Combining-Entrepreneurship-and-Web-Development-for-High-School-Students_-A-Pilot-Evaluation-of-the-Startup-Tech-Program-and-High-School-Students-College-and-Career-Aspirations_43页_1mb

Summary of "Combining Entrepreneurship and Web Development for High School Students"

Core Content

This report presents a pilot evaluation of the Startup Tech Intermediate program, an innovative high school course that combines entrepreneurship education with introductory web development skills. The program is designed to provide students with both business and technical training, preparing them for careers in business and technology fields. It is structured as a yearlong course and follows a train-the-trainer model, allowing regular classroom teachers to implement the curriculum.

The study focuses on New York City (NYC) high school students and evaluates the program's impact on students' self-efficacy and college and career aspirations. The evaluation is based on survey data collected at two points during the program and administrative data from the NYC Department of Education.

Main Findings

• Career Aspirations: Students who participated in Startup Tech showed a significant increase in their reported interest in business as a primary career focus. This suggests that the program successfully influenced students' career plans in the short term.

• Technical Career Interest: There was no observed increase in students' interest in computer science or other technical careers, despite the program's inclusion of web design and coding skills. This may be due to the fact that the survey only captured primary career interests, not secondary or supplementary interests.

• Self-Efficacy: The program did not appear to have a measurable impact on students' self-efficacy, either in general or in specific subject areas such as science, math, or computer science.

Key Information

Program Overview

• Name: Startup Tech Intermediate (Startup Tech)
• Developer: Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)
• Duration: Full-year course
• Focus: Entrepreneurship and introductory web design/coding
• Curriculum Structure:
  • Weeks 1–3: Introduction to entrepreneurship and its characteristics
  • Weeks 4–8: Opportunity recognition and market research
  • Weeks 9–16: Web development (HTML, CSS, and basic coding)
  • Weeks 17–19: Product development and presentation
  • Weeks 20–21: Business financials and customer acquisition
  • Weeks 23–25: Marketing and sales
  • Weeks 26–30: Advanced coding (JavaScript, jQuery)

Study Context

• Location: A vocational technology high school in NYC

• Student Demographics:

  • Higher proportion of male and Asian students
  • Lower proportion of female, Black/Hispanic, white, students with disabilities, and English-language learners
  • Similar poverty rates to the NYC school district as a whole
  • Higher academic performance in English and math, as measured by weighted Regents pass rates

• Sample Size: 39 students from the web design subtrack in two classrooms

Research Questions

1. How does Startup Tech affect students' college and career aspirations in business and technical fields?
2. How does Startup Tech affect students' self-efficacy in general and in specific subjects?

Methodology

• Data Sources:

  • Administrative data: Including demographics, academic performance, and course enrollments
  • Survey data: Measuring self-efficacy and career plans

• Analytical Approaches:

  • Descriptive analysis of survey responses
  • Doubly robust propensity-weighted cross-sectional comparisons between Startup Tech students and non-participants
  • Difference-in-differences analysis to assess changes in survey scores over time

Limitations

• The study is a small-scale pilot evaluation with a limited sample size
• Non-random assignment to the program may introduce bias
• The evaluation was limited to one school in NYC, which may affect generalizability
• The survey only captured primary career interests, not secondary or supplementary interests
• Not all coding content was covered due to delays and resource constraints

Implications

• Startup Tech has the potential to increase interest in business careers among high school students
• The program may need to be expanded and evaluated in more diverse settings to better understand its long-term impacts
• Further research is needed to assess the program's effect on technical skills and academic performance
• The train-the-trainer model supports scalability of the program to other schools and regions

Next Steps

• Conduct larger-scale evaluations in multiple schools and districts
• Explore the impact on technical skills and long-term career trajectories
• Investigate student self-efficacy in more depth, including subject-specific and soft skills
• Expand the survey scope to include secondary interests in technical fields

Conclusion

The Startup Tech program shows promise in shaping students' career aspirations and business skills, particularly in the context of vocational technology education. While the program did not significantly impact interest in computer science, it may still play a valuable role in preparing students for the 21st-century workforce. Future research should focus on longer-term outcomes and broader implementation to fully assess the program's effectiveness.