SAT Score vs Income Values

On the contrary, our group found a very weak correlation between average spending per student and SAT scores. The R-value between average spending per student and SAT score is 0.13491922 and the p-value is 3.44949E-30. The p-value is much lower than the critical p-value of 0.05, which rejects the null hypothesis and suggests that the relationship between SAT score and school funding is not due to random chance. The data suggests that school funding does influence SAT scores, but it isn’t a strong influence. Higher spending per student means that students likely have more access to educational resources under their disposal, leading to better educational outcomes. The weakness of the relationship, appears to be contrary to the pattern described above, though. This could be due to mismanagement of funds, as average spending per student includes all school budget costs divided by the school’s population. That money might be directed to factors outside of education such as higher salaries for teachers and administration. Another reason for the weak correlation is the uneven allocation of educational resources. Students in more advanced classes may receive more school funding than the rest of the school population because the teachers that teach those classes are likely more experienced and thus higher-paid. Those teachers might transfer to schools with more advantanged students, leaving a brain-drain situation in schools with more lower-income students.

 

Our group found that out of all the variables measured, low-income rate had the strongest correlation with SAT score. The R-value between the two is -0.73670673 and the p-value is 1.14801E-56. The data suggests that there is a strong negative correlation between low-income rate and SAT and that the correlation is not due to random chance. This is most likely the underlying factor mentioned in the section above on graduation rate. To clarify, low-income does not necessarily mean poverty. The low-income rate includes anyone living under a family income at or below 150 percent of the poverty line. [1] It includes anyone living under poverty or close to it. In addition to the factors discussed in the section on average spending per student, there are other reasons that can explain why low-income students tend to score lower on the SAT. Low-income students may not have educational opportunities that improve SAT scores such as hiring SAT tutoring, buying SAT test preparation books, or the ability to take the test multiple times. Therefore, when they go to take the exam, they will most likely not score as high as a student who had the money to afford for all the test preparation resources mentioned above.