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The primary purpose of this study was to compare academic achievement and behavioral characteristics of students enrolled in the Career Exploratory Middle School (CEMS), an alternative middle school, with the academic achievement and behavioral characteristics of students in a project called Building and Supplementing Instruction in the Core Skills (BASICS), a dropout prevention program within traditional middle schools. The independent· variable was CEMS. The dependent variables were SRA composite scores, absences, days tardy, grade point average and office referrals. Project BASICS was used as a comparison group. Another purpose of this study was to determine whether or not CEMS and Project BASICS had any effect on selected academic and behavioral criteria. A total of 120 subjects were analyzed from two groups. Each group consisted of 60 randomly selected students. An ex post facto research design was used. Descriptive analyses included mean, media, mode, range, variance and standard deviations. Analysis of covariance was used to determine significant relationships. T-tests were used to compare the performance within both comparison groups. A p<.05 level of significance was used. Based on the Pearson Correlation Coefficient there appears to be a highly positive relationship between student performance in 1986-87 and in 1987-88 for all behavioral variables. The t-test for Grade Point Average (GPA) indicated that the sample means were almost identical within each individual group. All other variables indicated significant within-group improvement. The results suggested that there were no significant differences between the Career Exploratory Middle Schools (CEMS) and project BASICS with regard to Science Research Association (SRA) composite scores, absences, days tardy, GPA and office referrals. This study is designed to compare the effectiveness of two strategies used to reduce the number of dropout-prone middle school students. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to identify common elements in the experience of exemplary interdisciplinary teams in middle level schools, to assess their value in team progress as perceived by teachers, to determine to what degree the results support current theory, and to identify variations in exemplary teams' practices. In this study, an interdisciplinary team is a group of two to five teachers responsible for instructing a common group of students in the core subjects--mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts--during a four or five period block in the daily schedule, with two planning periods daily--one for team planning and the other for individual planning. Interdisciplinary team organization is one system widely acknowledged as a method of promoting collaboration for teachers and small social groups for students. However, to benefit teachers and students, these teams must operate effectively. Erb and Dada (1989) have proposed a complete model of team development measures, including four domains of teaming--organization, attention to students, shared responsibility and growth, and instructional coordination-- and factors which promote team growth. Teachers' perceptions of these factors' importance can help persons developing effective teams. Team members at twelve Virginia middle level schools were surveyed and observed. Sixteen teams from small, medium, and large schools serving a variety of socioeconomic groups qualified as exemplary teams by their activities on all four domains. Analysis of team practices revealed that coordination with non-team teachers, use of uniform discipline policies and scheduling guidelines, and observing peers' teaching and proposing staff development programs were activities conspicuous by their absence on exemplary teams. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed that exemplary teams concentrated on one of three different areas--administration, curriculum, or change to new activities--and that some teams might use collaboration to perpetuate poor pedagogical practices. Teachers valued training, support, and activities in their teams' development, but reported school organization and decision making structure as less important. Analysis includes a model relating nearly 60% of the variation in team expertise to team members' respect for individuality in the context of strong team identity, and whole-school work environment. / Ed. D.

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No description available.