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An evaluation of the Jacox elementary school improvement program

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Jacox Elementary School Improvement program to determine the extent to which the program was effective in achieving its goals. The study sought to answer the major research question: Is the Jacox Elementary School Improvement program successful in achieving its stated goals? and to answer three subquestions: 1) Did the students improve academically?, 2) Was the self-concept of students improved?, and, 3) Was the school climate as perceived by students and teachers positively changed?

Instruments were selected to measure the areas examined. Three instruments were used to assess Student academic achievement: 1) the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, 2) the communication skills and mathematics portions of the criterion-referenced tests, and 3) the reading comprehension portion of the Virginia State Literacy Predictor Tests as well as the final report card grades for communications skills and mathematics. The Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale was used to assess the self-concept of students. The Student Survey for Jacox Elementary’s Climate Correlate was used to assess the school climate as perceived by students. The National Association of Secondary School Principals Teacher School Climate Survey was used to assess the school climate as perceived by teachers. Teacher interviews were conducted to gather qualitative data.

The findings showed that:
- When certain assessment measures were used, students in some grade levels improved academically.
- There were no significant differences between the pretest and posttest means of the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale.
- Both students and teachers reported an improvement in the climate of the school.
- Student and teacher attendance improved over the previous year.

The preponderance of evidence indicated that the Jacox Elementary School Improvement program did not meet its stated goals. The fact that the program was assessed for one academic year provided one explanation for the research findings. / Ed. D.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/38256
Date06 June 2008
CreatorsMeeks, Lynne Hagens
ContributorsEducational Administration, Worner, Wayne M., Richards, Robert R., Wilson, DeLores E., Earthman, Glen I., Singh, Kusum
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation, Text
Formatxii, 229 leaves, BTD, application/pdf, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
RelationOCLC# 31352012, LD5655.V856_1994.M445.pdf

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