Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Karen Kimball
Committee Member
Lucille Beisner
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
applied dissertations, certified teachers, educational assessment, examination preparation, Graduation Qualifying Exam, GQE, high school students, Indiana, Indiana State Test for Educational Progress, intervention programs, ISTEP, language arts, mathematics, Mishawaka, organizational skills, remedial instruction, remedial mathematics, remedial programs, remedial reading, remediation, secondary education, state examinations, study skills, test performance, test taking skills, test wiseness, tenth grade students, working class students
Abstract
The topics researched in this applied dissertation were the language arts, mathematics, and test-taking remediation program effects on the Indiana State Test for Educational Progress (ISTEP) and Graduation Qualifying Exam (GQE).
An analysis of the past 4 years of ISTEP and GQE scores indicated a need for a remediation program that focused on study skills with the emphasis on test-taking skills and in the areas of language arts and mathematics to aid the 10thgrade students in passing the GQE exam. The study skill plan consisted of a comprehensive study of 4 basic study skills and 8 organizational skills to enhance the learning process.
Mishawaka is a midcity fringe high school with a total population of 1,541 students. Tenth-grade students who failed the state GQE were the target group. The remediation program that was used in both language arts and mathematics was taught by certified teachers in these subject areas to focus on content areas showing the greatest weaknesses by the students.
The interventions of this applied dissertation attempted to reduce the numbers of students who failed the state GQE. The target group of 10th-grade students on which these interventions were used was the students who failed the 1st attempt at the state exam in September of 2002.
The ISTEP and GQE scores for the 2nd exam showed a slight decrease in the overall student performance on the spring ISTEP and GQE. After the inventions were conducted, there were 55% of the students who passed in language arts and only 51% of the students who passed in the area of mathematics as compared to 57% and 58%, respectfully, in September of 2002. Further study of the effects of improving test scores through a language arts, mathematics, and test-taking program should take place.