The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship of small learning
communities (SLCs) and student performance for ninth grade students at Robert E. Lee
High School in North East Independent School District (NEISD). For this study, student
performance includes achievement on reading and math Texas Assessment of
Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), attendance rates, and number of dropouts. Research
included data for years 2002-2003 through 2005-2006 retrieved from the Academic
Excellence Indicator System (AEIS).
An extensive review of the literature revealed support for implementation of the
SLCs model for high school reform. Recent research indicates that student performance
will improve if SLCs are fully implemented and supported using a framework, such as
Oxley’s five domains for SLCs.
The first two questions of this study addressed reading and math TAKS data by
ethnic, economically disadvantaged, and special education subpopulations. The third
question in this study addressed attendance rates and dropouts. This study found a significant difference in reading TAKS scores for the ethnic
subpopulations with the implementation of SLCs. Economically disadvantaged students’
and special education students’ scores also showed significant gains in reading scale
scores over the four years of the study.
Data from this study revealed that math TAKS scale scores showed a significant
increase in the economically disadvantaged and special education subpopulations after
implementation of the SLCs. In addition, significance was found in reducing the
achievement gap between special education and regular education students on math
TAKS.
Attendance rates showed no statistical significance after the implementation of
the SLCs. An analysis of dropout rates was not possible due to low dropout numbers.
The empirical data would not support meaningful analysis.
Further investigation is needed to gain a better understanding of the relationship
of SLCs on student performance, especially for African American and Hispanic students
in math. Additional factors such as degree of implementation and influence of the
administrative leadership needs to be explored.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2057 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Turnbo, Bobbie Jo |
| Contributors | Collier, Virginia, Hoyle, John |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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