To assess the effectiveness of the Florida Education Governance Reorganization Act of 2000, I analyze the achievement gaps across different levels of the education pipeline: elementary, secondary, and postsecondary. This paper evaluates three objectives of Florida's new system: strengthening of foundation skills, improvement of college and career readiness, and the expansion of opportunities for postsecondary degrees, by asking: Has the introduction of a PreK-20 seamless system in Florida reduced the educational achievement gaps between students, compared to Texas, which has not instituted a seamless system? At the elementary level, the analysis looks at 4th and 8th grade National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) average scale scores, from 1998 to 2007, of White, African-American, and Hispanic students and those students eligible and ineligible for the National School Lunch Program. At the secondary level, a comparison is made between the Advanced Placement passing rates of White, African-American, and Hispanic students from 1997 to 2008. At the postsecondary level, this paper examines the proportion of professional, master, and doctoral degrees awarded to White, African-American, and Hispanic students from 1995 to 2007. Results show that although Florida has raised the level of achievement for White, African-American, and Hispanic students in the past ten years, disparities between these groups still exist in NAEP scores, AP passing rates, and the proportion of graduate degrees conferred. Therefore, while the state has made progress towards its three goals, achievement gaps still remain in several levels of Florida's PreK-20 education system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-5111 |
| Date | 01 January 2009 |
| Creators | Emas, Rachel |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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