Mathematics achievement in the secondary high school context of STEM and non‐STEM schools

The purpose of this study is to compare students’ mathematics achievement growth rate in Texas science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (T‐STEM) academies to students’ mathematics achievement growth rate in traditional public high schools. Forty‐six schools, 23 of which were T‐STEM academies and 23 of which were matched non‐STEM schools, were included in this study. A hierarchical linear modeling method was conducted. The result of the present study revealed that there was no difference in students’ mathematics achievement growth rate in T‐STEM academies compared to students’ mathematics achievement growth rate in comparison schools. However, in terms of ethnicity, the results indicated that African American and Hispanic students in T‐STEM academies outperformed African American and Hispanic students in comparison schools on their mathematics growth rate.