The Influence of Curriculum Quality on Student Achievement on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) Language Arts and Mathematics for Fifth-Grade Students in the Lowest Socioeconomic School Districts
This study examined the strength and direction of the relationships between student and school variables found in the present literature to influence student achievement on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) language arts and mathematics for fifth-grade students in the lowest socioeconomic school districts. The purpose of this study was to explain the influence of curriculum customization at the school level. The independent variables in this study were: curriculum design, curriculum development, influential forces that drive curriculum, socioeconomic status including free and reduced lunch status, teachers with graduate degrees, attendance rates, percentage of special education students, instructional time, percentage of English Language Learners, student mobility, and faculty mobility rate. Despite the education reforms in the past years, an arduous task still lies ahead before all students are considered proficient. Analyses were conducted through the use of simultaneous multiple regression models. The student data considered in this study pertained to surveyed elementary schools categorized DFG A, the lowest socioeconomic school districts in New Jersey. The results of this study, derived from 73 school principal responses located in 24 districts, revealed that the variables NJ ASK 5 language arts and results of the curriculum quality survey, accounted for the largest amount of variance in student achievement to the NJ ASK 5 mathematics. In conclusion, the study findings suggested the two predictor variables have a positive influence on the achievement of students on the NJ ASK 5 mathematics.
Curriculum Customization, NJ ASK Language Arts, NJ ASK Mathematics, Curriculum Design, Curriculum Development, Influential Forces that Drive Curriculum, Educational Leadership
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