Project 1: Exploratory Data Analysis & Recommendation

Problem Statment

• What is the relationship between participation and test scores?
• How can we increase participation for the SAT?

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	Description
state	object	ACT/SAT	A state in the United States of America
year	int	ACT/SAT	Year the test was taken
act participation	float	ACT	Percentage of high school students who took ACT
act english	float	ACT	Composite score for English
act math	float	ACT	Composite score for Math
act reading	float	ACT	Composite score for Reading
act science	float	ACT	Composite score for Science
act composite	float	ACT	Composite score for ACT
sat participation	float	SAT	Percentage of high school students who took SAT
sat read & write	int	SAT	Score for Evidence Based Reading and Writing
sat math	int	SAT	Score for Math
sat total	int	SAT	Total Score for SAT

Conclusion

Participation rates and scores are negatively correlated: as participation increases, scores increase.

Below are graphs that demonstrate this negative correlation:

In addition, I have found that states that have SAT School Days also have greater overall participation.

Recommendations

1. Convince more states and school districts to have more SAT School Days for greater overall participation. In 2018-2019, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and District of Columbia were all involved in SAT School Day. These all are also the states with the greatest participation rates for the year.

2. Consider each state's academic standards when creating SAT test content, as many states that require the SAT do so because they believe it aligns best with their standards, such as Colorado.

3. Target states where participation is similar between SAT and ACT, such as Texas and Georgia. They are likely to be affected by efforts since there isn't a test that's already required/favored. In addition, these states are already trending towards more participation rates for the SAT each year.

Sources

https://reports.collegeboard.org/archive/sat-suite-program-results/2019/benefits-sat-school-day https://www.denverpost.com/2017/03/06/colorado-juniors-sat-college-exam/ https://blog.collegevine.com/here-are-the-average-sat-scores-by-state/ https://blog.prepscholar.com/average-sat-scores-by-state-most-recent https://blog.prepscholar.com/act-scores-by-state-averages-highs-and-lows https://www.act.org/content/act/en/research/reports/act-publications/condition-of-college-and-career-readiness-2017.html