Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Meline Kevorkian
Committee Member
Alvin Heatley
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
accountability, achievement, administrators, applied dissertation, assessments, data analysis, educational accountability, elementary schools, exit interviews, FCAT, Florida, Florida A+ Accountability Program, Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, goal setting, instructional strategies, interventions, mastery, mathematics, mathematics instruction, mathematics programs, middle schools, No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, parents, periodic assessments, portfolios, practice tests, public schools, remedial mathematics, school-wide programs, South Florida, staff development, state-mandated testing, student achievement, students, teacher training, teachers, United States, U.S. public schools
Abstract
The passing and implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 dramatically increased public awareness of accountability in U.S. public schools (S. Charp, 2003). State-mandated testing is now present in nearly 40 of the states. Florida educators have struggled to meet the demands of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). In 1998, the Florida A+ Accountability program, which assigns grades to elementary, middle, and high schools, was initiated. The standards-based accountability has forced administrators, teachers, and parents to search for practices that will increase student achievement.
This applied dissertation describes the practices put in place in one South Florida middle school to increase student achievement in mathematics classrooms, including the training provided by and for teachers. The researcher presented strategies to help teachers implement existing programs more efficiently, and periodic assessments were administered to the student body. Data from these assessments were compiled and analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the interventions.
The objectives of the study were (a) to increase the effectiveness of already existing school-wide programs, (b) to increase the percentage of students reaching mastery on FCAT practice tests, (c) to increase the number of exposures to the math programs for students each week, and (d) to provide staff development that increased the effectiveness of the delivery of instruction in all classes.
Following the interventions undertaken to achieve the objectives of the study, the quality of portfolios indicated that the teachers’ goal-setting activities were successful. Teachers’ responses to the exit interview indicated that the staff development sessions and the ongoing support were beneficial to them, and the number of student exposures to the math program activities increased. Although the terminal objective that there would be a 35% increase in the students’ FCAT scores on the practice tests was not achieved, there was a school-wide average increase of 24.5% in student scores on the FCAT from Practice Test 1 to Practice Test 2.