Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Karen B. Kamin
Committee Member
Sherrine Pitts
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academic performance, administrators, community members, core courses, deterrent, Dunedin High School, Falcon Family, high school transition, literature, ninth grade, parents, peer counseling, peer influence, peer mentoring, peer mentorship, positive experience, project manager, retention rate, retentions, stakeholders, student performance, students, teachers, tenth grade
Abstract
Falcon Family was a peer mentoring project implemented at Dunedin High School in the 2001-2002 school year as one method of improving academic performance by ninth-grade students. The project was based, in part, on research showing that ninth-grade students are frequently unprepared for high school and that teachers generally prefer not to teach ninth-grade classes. The literature showed that peer mentorship can act as a deterrent that might result in reducing the retention rate.
As part of the Falcon Family project, an upper-class student was assigned to a ninth grader to assist in developing strategies for completing the ninth grade and moving on to the tenth grade. A committee of stakeholders consisting of students, administrators, teachers, parents, and community members was involved at all stages of the process. The goal of the project was to improve student performance in core courses and reduce the retention rate for ninth grade students by 3%.
The goal was exceeded. The retention rate for ninth-grade students decreased by 4 percentage points. Additionally, students who participated generally reported the project as a positive experience. Accordingly, it is the conclusion of the project manager that managing students in transition through a peer mentoring program is one viable strategy for reducing ninth-grade retentions.