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The purpose of this one-year ethnographic study was to explore and make meaning of the "lived reality" of white working-class girls from Riverfront who are at risk for dropping out as they make the transition from eighth grade to ninth. The focus on white working-class girls from Riverfront, a deindustrialized neighborhood in the Northeast, reflects the fact that they are one of the many subgroups vulnerable to dropping out. While large quantitative studies are providing us with information abut who drops out, when they drop out, and the "official" reason based on school codes, the voices and views of students are glaringly absent. This study provides an in-depth account of seven girls as they make the transition to high school, employing the methodology and analytic techniques of ethnography. Situated in the context of class, the study explored how these girls and their families made decisions, and investigated their beliefs, feelings and behaviors during this critical year. The study found that the girls' lives and educational experiences sharply diverged after they left their neighborhood elementary school and spread out to various high schools. The girls who attended magnet and other selective schools increased their chances to realize their potential as these schools were far superior in terms of offering students curricular, pedagogical and environmental advantages that would prepare them for higher education and well-paying jobs. In contrast, the girls who went to neighborhood schools further increased the likelihood that their economic position would remain stagnant, as the schools they attended were poorer in every respect from teacher quality to curriculum and classroom environment. While the neighborhood negatively impacted the education of these working-class girls, the influence of their families varied. Families that had social and cultural capital transmitted many advantages to their daughters, while the poorest and most socially excluded families unwittingly perpetuated poorer life outcomes for their daughters. / Educational Administration

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to discover some social and economic factors concerning the home background of the ninth and twelfth-grade students during their first and last years of high school; and (2) to study the physical status of these groups for the year 1949-1950, noting the development of each group in order to discover the relationship, if any, of social and economic status upon school marks of the students in the two grades.

The purpose of this study is to determine what problems the ninth-grade students of the North Texas Demonstration School at Denton, Texas, and the Denton Junior High School, say concern them most and to make some recommendations for helping students solve these problems.

The problem of the present study is to investigate specific background areas of pupils who show average use of English, and of pupils who are recognized as having below-average use of English. The study will attempt to bring out certain tendencies, by the use of standardized tests, which the two groups investigated possess in varying degrees. The aim of the study will be to bring out and evaluate the differentiating background factors as revealed by the results obtained on the standardized tests used in the investigation.

The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which a credit recovery program improved the academic success for high school freshmen. For the purpose of this study, academic success was defined as whether or not the student advanced from 9th to 10th grade. A total of 255 students from two junior high schools and one comprehensive high school were included in the study. Independent variables included program, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, TAKS Reading/Language Arts results, and TAKS Mathematics results. A review of related literature provided background information regarding the issues surrounding high school freshmen, dropouts, grade retention, and effective intervention programs. This quantitative study utilized descriptive statistics and logistic regression to analyze the relationship between the independent variables and student success as measured by whether or not the student advanced from ninth to tenth grade. In addition, the study examined the odds of success if participating in the credit recovery program. Sources of data included Incomplete and Failure Listing, Ninth Grade Advisor Listing, Tenth Grade Advisory Listing, and the Student Roster-Fall Collection. The Ninth Grade Success Initiative Program Evaluation for Cycles 6, 7, and 9 provided the individual student results of participation in the program. Levels of significance were set at the .05 level. The findings of this study indicated that no statistically significant relationship existed between participation in the credit recovery program, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, TAKS Reading/Language Arts results, TAKS Mathematics results, and advancing from 9th to 10th grade. It was concluded that further study would be needed to determine the most effective means for providing academic assistance to ninth grade students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Project SAIL, a program designed to increase student achievement through interdisciplinary learning, upon the achievement, attendance, and attitude toward school of the ninth grade students who participated in it. The study also identified its benefits and liabilities from the perspective of teachers and students.

A Freshman Academy's Influence on Student Connectivity, Attendance, and Academic Achievement by Nancy O. LoPresti MA, Montclair State University 2005 MAT, Marygrove College, 2002 BA, Kean University 1981 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University June 2017

In this study a phenomenographic theoretical perspective is taken as departure for research on manifested critical thinking in civics among Swedish ninth-grade compulsory school students. According to the phenomenographic perspective students’ manifestations of critical thinking are linked to the way of experiencing the phenomena inducing a manifestation of critical thinking. Thus differences between students’ manifestations of critical thinking are linked to differences in the way of experiencing the phenomena inducing a manifestation of critical thinking. The empirical investigation in this study revolves around how 19 ninth-grade students experience four different tasks designed to induce manifestations of critical thinking. In broad terms the main aim of the study is to describe the students’ different ways of experiencing each specific task and furthermore, to link each specific way of experiencing a specific task to a specific type of manifested critical thinking in relation to that task. A more overarching aim is to offer and test the phenomenographic theoretical perspective as a way of conducting research on manifested critical thinking. The empirical results show how the way of experiencing a specific task plays a decisive roll for the type of manifested critical thinking, made possible in relation to the specific task. A more complex way of experiencing the task can be linked to a more complex manifestation of critical thinking in relation to the task. A less complex way of experiencing the task can be linked to a less complex manifestation of critical thinking in relation to the task. The study also suggests how these empirical results can be used in a pedagogical situation in order to enhance students manifested critical thinking in civics. Concerning the more overarching aim the study strongly points to a further use of the phenomenographic perspective when conducting research on students manifested critical thinking.

xi, 69 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Research has identified the construct of student engagement as an antecedent to positive academic outcomes. In this study, the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI) was administered to 371 9th grade students at a comprehensive high school to measure the cognitive and affective engagement of students. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the 35-item SEI with best model fit matching previous research in which a five-factor model was found. Logistic and multiple regression analyses were then utilized to explore the relationships among cognitive and affective engagement and student achievement and behavioral outcomes. Findings generally supported the significance of the student engagement subtypes of cognitive and affective engagement in predicting educational outcomes. Results suggest that further study of the affective and cognitive subtypes and their development over the course of a student's education would enhance the understanding of the student engagement construct and lead to the development of interventions to mediate the effects of these subtypes. / Committee in charge: Edward Kameenui, Chairperson, Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership; Keith Zvoch, Member, Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership; Keith Hollenbeck, Member, Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership; Robert Davis, Outside Member, Romance Languages