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The development, implementation, and evaluation of a school-based project to improve achievement of fifth-grade students who have been retained
Abstract
Educators are pressed to take seriously their obligation for improving success in school for failure-expectant children and for changing the means used to achieve learning outcomes. This dissertation describes the processes, activities and suggested strategies for integrating staff development, parent outreach and after-school skill support for a small group of low-income Black children targeted for retention at the fifth grade. The project comprised three elements: an after-school skills development/homework hurdle program; a staff development program focusing on encouraging high teacher expectations for all children and a parent outreach program. The project sought to enable minority, failure-expectant children to experience success. Teachers practiced positive interactional and support skills designed to demonstrate an understanding of how their behaviors and expectations impacted on student achievement. The after-school project and staff development component incorporated characteristics drawn from the effective-schools research, such as: (a) the principal's leadership and attention to the quality of instruction, (b) school climate contributing to teaching and learning, (c) high expectations for performance of all students, (d) teachers committed to bringing all children to at least minimum mastery, and (e) assessing and monitoring student achievement. The project had positive effects on student achievement as measured on standardized tests and report card grades, as well as student behaviors. Teachers held higher expectations, practiced effective teaching strategies, and interacted more with colleagues and parents. Educators have a strong knowledge base for school improvement activities among current staffs, but there are no fixed methods or standard blueprints to explain how to combine people, ideas and programs to create a setting that meets all the diverse needs presented by poor and minority children with a history of limited academic achievement. Viewing change as a process, the after-school project directly assisted at risk students in ways that helped teachers modify their strategies and organizational routines to meet educational needs of Black, failure-expectant children. With commitment and accountability for success, learning outcomes increased through staff development, parent outreach, attention to learning readiness, social competencies, and mastery of basic skills. Failure-expectant students came to think of themselves as capable of learning; and their gains helped teachers see the importance of positive expectations. The principal also increased a repertoire of school improvement strategies.
Subject Area
Educational administration|Teacher education|Curriculum development
Recommended Citation
Williams, Barbara Rivers, "The development, implementation, and evaluation of a school-based project to improve achievement of fifth-grade students who have been retained" (1990). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9022759.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9022759