Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Lucille Beisner
Committee Member
Karen Kimball
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
achievement, applied dissertation, course grades, evaluation, failure rate, Federal Lunch Program, Gary, grading, grade reports, heterogeneously mixed group, Horace Mann High School, improvement, Indiana, Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP+), intervention, mathematics, Math Project, performance based learning, socioeconomic status, small group instruction, standardized reading test, standardized testing, state competency test, student collaboration, student outcomes, student performance, teachers, tenth grade
Abstract
This applied dissertation studied the improvement of student course grades through the math program in 10th grade at Horace Mann High School, Gary, Indiana. In order to improve students' outcomes, strategies using Performance Based Learning, small group instruction and student collaboration were implemented.
The Math Project was implemented with 10th-grade teachers who agreed to participate in this study. The students in the study were a heterogeneously mixed group of students with common scores from the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP+/state competency) test at the 8th-grade level, common socioeconomic status according to the Federal Lunch Program guidelines, and common scores on the standardized reading test. There was an unsatisfactory student performance level of 33% in math achievement at the 10th grade level as documented in standardized testing and grade reports. The student math course failure rate was 30%.
The applied dissertation examined whether the Math Project improved the students’ course grade performances. Evaluation of impact was determined by the changes in student course grades. As a result of this intervention, the student failure rate decreased from 30% to 10.9%.