Many school districts are using research-based strategies to increase student achievement. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was created and implemented to assist all students becoming proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014. One strategy many school districts implemented includes an after-school program. One school district in Mississippi operated an after-school program to help increase the academic achievement of 7th and 8th grade students scoring minimal and basic on the MCT2. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of regular participation in an after-school program on indicators of student academic achievement. The dependent variables for this study consisted of (a) math grade point averages, (b) reading grade point averages, (c) language arts grade point averages, (d) MCT2 math scores, (e) MCT2 language arts scores, (f) number of absences, and (g) number of discipline referrals. The independent variable for this study was program participation, which had two levels. One level was program attendance for at least 40 days and the other level was program attendance for less than 40 days. In this study, 7 hypotheses were tested by comparing the measures of the dependent variables for the two levels of the dependent variables. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the 7 hypotheses. The results of the ANCOVAs failed to detect any statistically significant differences in the dependent variables between the students who attended the after-school program for at least 40 days and students who did not attend the after-school program for 40 days. However, there were differences in the measures between the two groups. Not only did the regular attendees have lower averages in absenteeism and discipline referrals, they also had higher averages in mathematics (both GPA and MCT2), reading GPA, and language arts GPA. The only measure where the non-regular attendees demonstrated better performance was on the language arts MCT2. The recommendations for future research are as follows: implementation of adequate professional development for after-school program teachers, a research based reading program to assess student achievement, and a longitudinal study on after-school programs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-5367 |
| Date | 12 May 2012 |
| Creators | Pastchal-Temple, Andrea Sheree |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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