Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
EdD Program for Educational Leaders
Advisor
Patricia H. Grimes
Committee Member
F. Dennis Triplett
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Claudia Santin
Keywords
African American, afterschool tutorial program, alternatives, computer lab, free and reduced-price lunch, Green Acres Middle School, intervention strategies, middle school retention, parental involvement, parent-teacher conferences, promotion requirements, promotion-retention, Project Uplift, SAT-9, self-esteem, social promotion, Stanford Achievement Test 9, student motivation
Abstract
This report describes a program that assisted students in Grades 6-8 who had previously failed 2 or more grades in meeting promotion requirements. The setting was Green Acres Middle School, an urban school with a 99% African American student population of 535 and a free and reduced-price lunch rate of 80%. In 2000-2001, 100% of students for whom data were available and who had failed 2 or more times performed below the 5th stanine on the Stanford Achievement Test 9 (SAT-9)for the total battery.
Project Uplift was a program that was designed to meet the needs of these students. It included the following strategies: an afterschool tutorial program; weekly visits to the computer lab for SAT-9-related lessons; participation in a club that addressed student motivation and self-esteem; and efforts to increase parental involvement that included mandatory parent-teacher conferences each grading period. The program was implemented throughout the 2001-2002 school year and involved students, parents, teachers, and administrators.
At the conclusion of the 2001-2002 school year, 71% of the 24 target-group students met regular promotion requirements. In addition, 25% scored in or above the 5th stanine on the SAT-9 for the total battery that was administered to the students.