Project Lead the Way: Impacts of a High School Applied STEM Program on Early Post-Secondary Outcomes. EdWorkingPaper No. 24-981
Takako Nomi; Darrin DeChane; Michael Podgursky (2024). Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED656118
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examining70,311Students, grades9-PS
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: June 2026
- Single Study Review (findings for Project Lead the Way (PLTW))
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a cluster quasi-experimental design that provides evidence of effects on individuals by satisfying the baseline equivalence requirement for the individuals in the analytic intervention and comparison groups.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
College Enrollment |
Project Lead the Way (PLTW) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
2013 Cohort;
|
44.10 |
42.70 |
No |
-- | |
|
College Enrollment |
Project Lead the Way (PLTW) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
2014 cohort;
|
44.50 |
42.20 |
No |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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2% English language learners -
Female: 49%
Male: 52% -
Rural, Suburban, Town, Urban
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Missouri
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Race Black 10% Other or unknown 7% White 83% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 4% Not Hispanic or Latino 96% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) 57% No FRPL 43%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in 380 public high schools in Missouri, including 96 schools that offered the Project Lead the Way program and 284 schools that did not. Schools were located in urban, suburban, town and rural areas of the state.
Study sample
The 2013 analytic sample included 70,311 students from the 2010 and 2013 grade 9 cohorts. The 2014 analytic sample included 70,300 students from the 2010 and 2014 grade 9 cohorts. The combined study sample (i.e., all cohorts) was approximately 49% female, and 57% of students in the sample were eligible for free- or reduced-price meals while 2% were identified as English learner students. The racial composition of the sample was 83% White, 10% Black and 7% some other race, while 4% of the sample was of Hispanic ethnicity.
Intervention Group
Project Lead the Way is a high school program intended to connect science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to real-world problems and applied settings through course work in three specific STEM fields: engineering, biomedical sciences, and computer science. Students participating in Project Lead the Way curricula do so as part of career and technical education (CTE) coursework in participating high schools. The curricula are organized in a sequence, or pathway, that moves from introductory to more advanced and specialized content, and emphasize project-based learning.
Comparison Group
Students in the comparison condition attended high schools that did not offer Project Lead the Way, and they experienced their usual high school course offerings.
Support for implementation
The study report does not describe how Project Lead the Way high schools are supported in implementing the program.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).