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EDU 6982 Group Project

Research Problem:

Is there a relationship between population size and student academic achievement in Washington State public high schools?

Consumer Tips (pg.42)

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Yes

Hypothesis:

Students attending smaller Washington State public high schools have higher academic achievement.

Consumer Tips (pg.48)

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Yes
6. Yes
7. Yes

Review of literature:

Achievement:

Archibald, S. (2006). Narrowing in on Educational Resources that Do Affect Student Achievement. Peabody Journal of Education, 81(4), 23-42. http://search.ebscohost.com

Felner, R., Jackson, A. (1997). The impact of school reform for the middle years: Longitudinal study of a network engaged in Turning.  Phi Delta Kappan, 78(7), 528-543.

School Size:

Bracey, G. (2001). Small schools, great strides. Phi Delta Kappan, 82(5), 413-414.

Coladarci, T. (2006). School Size, Student Achievement, and the “Power Rating”             of Poverty:  Substantive Finding or Statistical Artifact?. Online Submission,  http://search.ebscohost.com

Howley, C., & Bickel, R. (2000). When it comes to schooling…small works: School size, poverty, and student achievement. Randolph, VT: Rural School and Community Trust.

Meier, D. (1995).  Small schools, big results. The American School Board Journal, 182 (7), 37-40.

Robertson, S. (2001). The great size debate [A CEFPI Brief on Educational Facility Issues]. Scottsdale, AZ: Council of Educational Facility Planners, International.

Walsey, P. A., Fine, M., Gladden, M., Holland, N. E., King, S. P., Mosak, E., & Powell, L. C. (2000). Small schools: Great strides. A study of new small schools in Chicago. New York: Bank Street College of Education.

Consumer Tips (pg.76)

1. Yes- significant authors
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes- meta-analysis and actual studies
5. Yes- review by topic not by author
6. Not Applicable to this study
7. Yes-studies relate to school size and academic achievement
8. Not Applicable to this study
9. Yes-Articles selected fit within the theoretical framework that school size has an effect on academic achievement

10. Not Applicable to this study

Subjects and sampling procedures

Population: This study is examining all public high school students in Washington State.

Sampling method: 1200 participants will be taken from sixty Washington State public high schools; twenty from each school elected.  We will select twenty schools from each size category: small (populations of 900 and below), medium (populations of 901 to 1700), and large (populations of 1701 and above).  High schools will be stratified across Washington State before they will be randomly selected.  Both male and female participants will be equally represented in the study.  The students from both SES groups will be represented, with stratification between students who receive free and reduced price lunch and those who receive no subsidization.  Students from each SES classification will be proportionally stratified according to their percentage of occurrence in the general Washington State high school population.

Description: The sample will be described by school size and socio-economic status.  In addition, the subjects included in our study will be evaluated based on their grade point average for each grade level as well as WASL scores and graduation/ drop out rate.

Consumer Tips (pg.127)

1. Yes- the description of participants by SES within the school size groupings
2. Yes- the population is clearly defined by Washington State public high school students
3. Yes- the method of sampling is random and is clearly defined and reasonable
4. Not applicable to this study
5. Yes- no discernible sources of bias in the selection of participants
6. Yes- doing a stratified random sampling
7. Yes- the sample of 1200 should be large enough to make generalizations back to the population, which the size unknown
8. Not applicable to this study

Instrumentation

Pearson (2008).Technical report of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, Grade 10, 2008, Technical Report. Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction Website (Accessed November 15, 2009).

Consumer Tips (pg 182)

Note-We could not find an appropriate test review for the WASL on Mental Measurement Yearbook; therefore we used a test review found through the Washington Education Association and OSPI.

1. Yes- construct validity has been determined from intercorrelation of content area tests.  The scores ranged from 0.367-0.699.
2. Internal consistency measures were used to estimate score reliability for the reading, mathematics, and science tests. Test-retest and alternate forms of reliability methods were determined to be unlikely to yield accurate estimates of score reliability.
3. Not Applicable to this study
4. Not Applicable to this study
5. This test is not norm referenced
6. Yes- experts in specific subject areas were consulted to verify the standards’ credibility
7. Yes- it is meaningful
8. Our test is cognitive so this does not apply
9. Not Applicable to this study

10. Not Applicable to this study

11. Not Applicable to this study

Research design

The research design is an ex post facto longitudinal study spanning four years.

Students will be chosen as freshman and tracked throughout their high school experience.  The data will be collected from a random stratified selection of public high school students who entered as freshman in 2000.  The graduation rates and drop out rates will be tracked and compared to the school size as a measure of academic achievement.  Further information that will be gathered to assess academic achievement will be the WASL scores and grade point average for each student at each grade level.

Consumer Tips (pg 203 Ex post-facto)

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.
4. Yes.
5. Not applicable.

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