Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Carolyn S. Buckenmaier
Committee Member
Maryanne Roesch
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
african american students, achievement gap, behavior modification, classroom management, classroom techniques, formative assessment, instructional practices, Maryland Functional Mathematics Test, mathematics achievement, mathematics instruction, modeling, ninth graders, pretest-posttest, remedial mathematics, remediation, secondary school mathematics, standardized test scores, student achievement, token reinforcement, Woodlawn High School, White students (non-Hispanic)
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to develop intervention strategies for improving African American students' mathematics achievement. At Woodlawn High School, an achievement gap existed between African American students and those who are White (non-Hispanic) for standardized mathematic scores on the 9th-grade level. Thirty percent of the 9th-grade African American students at Woodlawn High School did not meet state standards for the Maryland Functional Mathematics Test. This applied dissertation focused on improving mathematics achievement for African American ninth graders.
To address this problem, three important factors that affected student achievement were identified and intervention strategies provided. The first intervention strategy focused on providing remediation to students who were weak in mathematics. The second focused on improving the instructional strategies of modeling and encouraging the use of formative assessments during instruction. The third focused on the behavior modification techniques using token reinforcement.
The impact of these strategies was measured to determine their effect on African American students' performance in mathematics. Results from pre- and posttest data revealed that, when students were given remediation in the area of mathematics weakness, improvements were noted. Following implementation of this applied dissertation, an analysis of observation data revealed that instructional practices and classroom management strategies did improve. Analysis of the outcomes was dependent upon pre- and posttest data and an evaluation of informal and formal observations.