Traditional versus Non-Traditional School Management: an Exploratory Analysis of the Impact on High School Students' Academic Achievement
Background: This study was a quantitative effort noting the rise in school choice, linking graduation rates to smaller instructional class sizes, differentiated instruction and college. Purpose: This quantitative study identified the increased graduation rate of early/middle college graduates and how a multicultural curriculum impacted their student achievement versus the traditional curriculum of Texas’ first Early/Middle College High School. This thesis discusses the early/middle college high school reform model in Texas. This study focused on Goal 2 of the Learn and Earn program which requires that early/middle college high school serve a diverse student population that reflects the local school district’s demographics in terms of race, gender, socio-economic status, students with disabilities, academic ability, and motivation levels. Methods: The study employed a quantitative approach using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 21 which was utilized to conduct various statistical analyses in order to answer the research questions. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Measures of central tendencies and dispersions were computed and reported for the independent and dependent variables. To answer the research questions and test the corresponding null hypotheses, inferential statistical tests such as One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with Post Hoc analyses were computed and tested at the alpha level of .05. Results: High school students from Early College have significantly higher GPA. High school students from Early College high schools have significantly higher TSI math scores compared to students from Middle College and Traditional high schools. Early College schools have significantly higher graduation rates compared to Middle College. Conclusion: The types of school management have a significant effect on high school students’ GPA. High school students who enroll at Early College high schools tend to have higher GPAs. There is no significant difference between Traditional and Middle College high school students’ TSI math scores. Early Colleges have the highest graduate rates followed by Traditional. Middle College high schools tend to have the lowest graduation rates.
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