Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Charles Greco
Committee Member
Charles E. Danowski
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
additional classes, art classes, christian schools, cultural change, exiting parents, Fort Myers, Florida, Grades 7 and 8, McGregor Baptist Church, nonpublic education, parent choice, principal intervention, private schools, retention, retention rate, retention studies, science classes, sporting events, Southwest Florida Christian Academy, student retention, teacher training, withdrawal rates
Abstract
This study explored the reasons why parents choose private Christian schools, why they are willing to pay for these schools, and the possible reasons why they often remove their children as they get older. The subject of the study was Southwest Florida Christian Academy located in Fort Myers, Florida. The school has over 440 students and is affiliated with the McGregor Baptist Church. The researcher presented data to support observations that many parents withdraw their children as they get older and that very few currently enrolled in the higher grades actually started their education in a Christian school.
The researcher offered three interventions as possible solutions to the problem of student retention: teacher training, principal intervention, and additional classes and sporting events. These interventions were applied with the intent to create an overall cultural change in the understanding of retention. The combination of the interventions was examined using a final retention rate goal of 90%. Each intervention was evaluated and deemed successful or unsuccessful.
The results of the study showed that the interventions did make a difference and that, overall, Grades 7 and 8 had modest gains in retention. Overall teacher training was deemed successful by the teachers, and the principal found personal intervention with the exiting parents rewarding and profitable. Although additional science and art classes were found to be successful, additional sporting events were abandoned due to lack of interest.