Download or read book The Impact of Smaller Learning Communities in High School on Student Performance written by Joseph Ruiz and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Students continue to fail in large, traditional American high schools (Wood, 1992; Raywid, 1995). The transition from small elementary/intermediate settings to large, impersonal secondary environments forces students to face many difficult challenges. A review of the literature has provided support that the implementation of Small Learning Communities has revealed that students who attend small high schools have better attendance and are more successful academically verses students that attend large high schools (Howley, Strange, & Bickel, 2000). The purpose of this research study was to determine if statistical significant differences exist in students' attendance and academic achievement as measured by TAKS subject scores for grades nine, ten, and eleventh in ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies between traditional high schools and a high school implementing a Small Learning Communities model. The five campuses that were used for this study came from the forty campus comparison groups report provided by the Texas Education Agency that compares the yearly performance of campuses that share similar characteristics. This study's research design utilized a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) test to measure for statistical significant differences. Out of the forty-one separate pieces of data reviewed for the three research questions for this study, only three areas of statistical significance were found. The researcher could not substantiate that the SLC model was the sole determining factor that contributed to the three significant results. Based on the quantity of significance found, there is not enough statistical data over the three year period that supports the hypothesis that the implementation of Small Learning Communities impacts student/student groups' overall academic performance on TAKS testing. Thus no correlation between SLC's and overall student academic performance on TAKS scores and attendance were found. Further research is needed to determine whether there is a correlation between the SLC model and the performance of student/student groups' academic performance and attendance in large high schools.

Download or read book Smaller Learning Communities and Student Performance at the High School Level written by Christopher Avila and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book New Small Learning Communities written by Kathleen Cotton and published by National Association of Secondary School Principals(NASSP). This book was released on 2004 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Effectiveness of Small Learning Communities in Program Improvement Schools written by Stephanie Kay Lewis-Briggs and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Quantitative and Qualitative Review of California High Schools with Smaller Learning Communities written by Jennifer Lee Fong and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 694 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Effect of a Smaller Learning Community on Students in a Large High School written by Herbert Carleton Cox and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study is an investigation into the impact that Smaller Learning Communities might have on students in a large high school. It is a single site study that occurred over the course of three years. Three separate groups of students were involved in this study: Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) students, randomly selected students who had never taken a Pre-Advanced Placement or Advanced Placement course, and randomly selected students who had taken Pre-Advanced Placement or Advanced Placement courses. The Smaller Learning Community that had been applied at this high school was the Advancement Via Individual Determination or AVID program. The three different groups of students were compared in six separate categories: achievement scores on the state mandated Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills on the Math test as well as on the English Language Arts test, attendance rates, the number of disciplinary incidents received, class rankings, and grade point averages (GPAs). These categories were then assessed with a statistical analysis of simple or one way analysis using the ANOVA tool for comparison. Statistical significance was found to be present in five of the six categories studied. The AVID program was begun in California in the mid-1980s, and coupled with the recent emphasis on Smaller Learning Communities by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, programs like AVID have come to the forefront of educational solutions. The high school involved in this study was a large 5-A high school located in central Texas. Their enrollment was just over 2,300 students at the time of the completion of this study. According to the research, any student body of larger than +/-1,000 students is in danger of "losing" kids due to feelings of disconnection with theirschools. Applying treatments such as the AVID program to these large high schools is an attempt on the part of educators to provide for all students within the walls of their schools, in an earnest attempt to "leave no child behind."

Download or read book The Relationship Between Small Learning Communities and Student Performance as Identified by the Academic Excellence Indicator System at Robert E Lee High School in North East Independent School District San Antonio Texas written by Bobbie Jo Turnbo and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship of small learning communities (SLCs) and student performance for ninth grade students at Robert E. Lee High School in North East Independent School District (NEISD). For this study, student performance includes achievement on reading and math Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), attendance rates, and number of dropouts. Research included data for years 2002-2003 through 2005-2006 retrieved from the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS). An extensive review of the literature revealed support for implementation of the SLCs model for high school reform. Recent research indicates that student performance will improve if SLCs are fully implemented and supported using a framework, such as Oxley's five domains for SLCs. The first two questions of this study addressed reading and math TAKS data by ethnic, economically disadvantaged, and special education subpopulations. The third question in this study addressed attendance rates and dropouts. This study found a significant difference in reading TAKS scores for the ethnic subpopulations with the implementation of SLCs. Economically disadvantaged students' and special education students' scores also showed significant gains in reading scale scores over the four years of the study. Data from this study revealed that math TAKS scale scores showed a significant increase in the economically disadvantaged and special education subpopulations after implementation of the SLCs. In addition, significance was found in reducing the achievement gap between special education and regular education students on math TAKS. Attendance rates showed no statistical significance after the implementation of the SLCs. An analysis of dropout rates was not possible due to low dropout numbers. The empirical data would not support meaningful analysis. Further investigation is needed to gain a better understanding of the relationship of SLCs on student performance, especially for African American and Hispanic students in math. Additional factors such as degree of implementation and influence of the administrative leadership needs to be explored.

Download or read book The American High School written by Victoria J. Maslow and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Transforming the High School Experience written by Alan P. Blanchard and published by Trafford on Demand Pub. This book was released on 2006-01 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential guidebook for educators seeking a practical and effective method for transforming the large comprehensive high school into a successful system of small learning communities.

Download or read book Investigation of the Impact of Implementing Smaller Learning Communities on Student Performance in an Urban High School in Texas written by Thomas J. Dilworth and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 824 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract The trend of the last 40 years to build fewer, but larger high schools has resulted in dollar savings to taxpayers, but at the cost of higher rates of absenteeism, weaker academic environments, and poorer student engagement in learning. External pressures in the way of educational reforms such as the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have also had a negative impact on some large schools in urban school districts. Why is the United States undergoing such a broad national reform in education? The United States has a long history of educational reform. With every new generation comes a call for educational reform. Once education became compulsory in Texas in 1915 (Judd, 1918), so did calls to change it. Promises of changes to NCLB in the last year suggest that now we have left the "No Child Left Behind" reform movement (Duncan, 2009) and are moving toward a more culturally-centered approach to education where we acknowledge that societal problems affect the ability of students to get a quality education, we are able to provide constructive alternatives beyond the non-productive mantra that "if we just had better teachers and administrators, Johnny could learn." Arne Duncan (2009a), United States Secretary of Education, when interviewed on the television show The Colbert Report, said, "When schools are really the centers of the neighborhood and the heart of the community, our students are going to do very, very well." Indeed. Creating schools-within-schools (SWS) can serve to create neighborhoods -- academic neighborhoods -- that can serve students as the center of their educational community. The current national reform movement under President Obama as expressed by his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, (2009b) requires states seeking funds to implement four core-interconnected reforms: · to reverse the pervasive dumbing-down of academic standards and assessments by states. Race to the top winners need to work toward adopting common, internationally benchmarked K-12 standards that prepare students for success in college and careers, · to close the data gap, which now handcuffs districts from tracking growth in student learning and improving classroom instruction, states will need to monitor advances in student achievement and identify effective instructional practices, · to boost the quality of teachers and principals, especially in high-poverty schools and hard-to-staff subjects, states and districts should be able to identify effective teachers and principals and have strategies for rewarding and retaining more top-notch teachers and improving or replacing ones who are not up to the job, and finally, · to turn around the lowest-performing schools, states and districts must be ready to institute far-reaching reforms, from replacing staff and leadership to changing the school culture (p. 2). While this may seem to be more of the finger pointing found in NCLB, and does not seem to coincide with Duncan's previously cited comments, that "schools are really the centers of the neighborhood and the heart of the community," it does embrace the need for "far-reaching reforms." SWS\SLC can be one of those reforms. This study explores critically and carefully the extent to which a smaller learning community within a large urban high school affected student academic achievement, attendance, graduation, and dropout rates as well as student readiness for careers and post-secondary education. This study uses a qualitative case study methodology to describe an experiment in which the researcher, rather than creating the treatment, examines the effects of a naturally occurring treatment after that treatment has taken place (Lord, 1973). While a Smaller Learning Community (SLC) in and of itself is not a panacea for student improvement, SLCs may create conditions for improved student performance. Cotton (2004) reports, that among other benefits, students achieve at higher levels than do students in larger schools on both standardized achievement tests and other measures. The results of this study suggest that SLCs can provide an improved learning environment students have better relationships with teachers, and teachers with administration and parents. Because of limitations inherent in the data base, however this study is inconclusive in its findings regarding SLC effectiveness with regards to enhanced or diminished performance of students academically. While TAKS test scores were not markedly improved in comparison to the state average and a comparable group of high schools, college readiness indicators improved significantly. This suggests that other variables are at work in this research site and should be explored. Due to the aforementioned data issues, the reader should avoid drawing conclusions from the results that may reflect poorly on Texas High School's administrators, teachers, and students. A number of contextual and methodological limitations outlined in the study may have restricted the researcher's ability to investigate sufficiently the impact from SLC implementation on these performance indicators. The researcher provides recommendations for further evaluation of SLC implementation in light of these limitations.

Download or read book Effects of Small Learning Communities on Academic Achievement and Comportment of High School Students written by Kimberly Cloud and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1983 when Nation at Risk was released, two major reforms (No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top) were established to improve student academic achievement; yet, the number of high school dropouts continues to rise. The concept of Small Learning Communities (SLC) has been making its way into the traditional school setting since 2000 to help ninth graders make a successful transition to high school and graduate in four years. This study provided an opportunity to examine whether Small Learning Communities improve high school GPA, attendance, and reduce in-house suspensions. The control group consisted of 50 students who did not participate in an SLC and the experimental group consisted of 55 students who did participate in an SLC. The control group and experimental group attended two separate high schools within the same district in Central California. A complete list of all students who participated in an SLC was placed in alphabetical order. A complete list of all students who did not participate in an SLC was placed in alphabetical order. The participants were randomly selected by taking every 10th student for the experimental group and every 12th student for the control group who were alphabetically placed on two separate lists. The data were collected from the 2013-2014 school year and analyzed by using an independent t-test for all hypotheses. The results indicate that there was no significant difference in GPA and suspensions between the two groups but a significant difference in attendance between the two groups. The SLC group experienced a higher attendance rate.

Download or read book The Impact of Small Learning Communities on the Achievement of Low Socioeconomic Status Students in Large High Schools written by Travis Leon Schrimsher and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Districtwide Implementation of Small Learning Communities written by Temple University, Urban Education Collaborative and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last 10 to 15 years, a variety of efforts to transform American high schools have gained both public and private support. Significant among these are initiatives to implement Small Learning Communities (SLCs), part of a larger school reform and restructuring effort designed to address a variety of goals, including "downsizing large schools, meeting the needs of at-risk students, solving the problem of failing schools, modeling the process of school restructuring, personalizing education for all students, empowering teachers and extending their roles, preventing dropping out, and finding an equitable substitute for tracking" (Raywid, 1996a, p. 9). In 2004, the Christina School District (CSD) in Wilmington, Delaware, was awarded a three-year federal grant to implement secondary school reform as outlined in the district's Transformation Plan, which called for the implementation of small learning communities (via theme-based academies) in district high schools. The SLC grant was designed to "substantially improve the academic achievement, climate and potential for success for CSD's high school students." The effort would build on the Ninth-Grade Learning Community (Academy) piloted in 2003-2004 at Christiana High School (CHS) and would, by the end of the grant period, include SLCs, including 9th-grade and career-themed academies at all three district high schools; interdisciplinary teams of core subject teachers across all grade levels ("wall-to-wall" implementation) to foster personalized and continuous relationships between the team of teachers and their students; rigorous curriculum to meet the needs of all children; and provision of high-quality, sustained, intensive professional development in core academic subjects and SLC implementation. The three goals agreed upon by the school teams were to increase academic achievement, create a positive school climate, and increase parent and community involvement and engagement. Glasgow High School (GHS) and CHS added a fourth goal: to decrease the achievement gap. During Year 1 of the grant, each of the high schools developed its own set of three-year goals and annual measurable objectives. This report on the evaluation of the CSD's SLC implementation provides an overview of the SLC implementation both at the district level and at the three schools--CHS, Newark High School (NHS), and GHS--over the full grant period. Special attention is given to describing efforts to meet goals and their alignment to best practices in SLC implementation and how these best practices may be used to implement SLCs elsewhere. Appended are: (1) School Goals; (2) Research-based Practices in SLCs (by Oxley's Domains); (3) Delaware Student Testing Program Summary Results; and (4) Delaware Highly Qualified Teachers & Staffing Ratios. (Contains 1 figure, 2 tables and 2 footnotes.) [For "A Research Brief: Small Learning Communities--Recommendations for Success," see ED532061.].

Download or read book Small Learning Communities Versus Small Schools written by Carol L. Owens and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Redesigning Schools for Success written by Charles E. Ruebling and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2006 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Creating and Sustaining Small Learning Communities written by Grace Sammon and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CD-ROM contains: 33 planning templates -- data collection and assessment tools -- frequently asked questions.

Download or read book Smaller Learning Communities SLC Career Academies and the Associated High Schools that Work HSTW Concepts in a Diverse Urban High School and the Potential for Success in Raising Academic Performance written by Anthony Daniel (Dan) Spata and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: