Date
12-2018
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education in Curriculum & Instruction (EdD)
Chair
Constance Pearson
Keywords
Middle-school Student, Standards-based Progress Report, Academic Achievement, Standards, and Parental Communication
Disciplines
Education | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Methods
Recommended Citation
Odell, Matthew Scott, "Assessing Content Mastery: Using Quasi-experimental Research to Study the Effect that Standards-based Progress Reporting to Parents May Have on Student Achievement in Science at One Georgia Middle School" (2018). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 1957.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/1957
Abstract
With the establishment of standards-based testing as the key assessment of student knowledge gains and with the increased accountability first brought by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and now with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the role of the teacher and the methods of assessment have continued to change. To reach the national goals established by NCLB and the state guidelines established to allow the states to guide education in the ESSA, the testing of students’ previous knowledge and the identification of their strengths has become important to show teachers how to meet their students’ needs. More empirical research was needed to show whether the collaboration between parents and teachers using standards-based progress reports could improve a student’s achievement of science standards. Therefore, this study used a quasi-experimental, cluster randomized control trial utilizing a posttest only format to examine whether the communication to parents of grades on weekly, standards-based progress reports could affect the achievement of 7th and 8th grade science students. The sample consisted of 262 students in one Georgia middle school. A t-test for equal variance compared means for 7th and 8th grade students whose parents received a standards-based progress report with those whose parents did not receive one. These t-tests returned statistically significant results for all three tests at an alpha of .05, however due to a violation of the assumption of normality, a Mann-Whitney U test was run. Based on the results of the Mann-Whitney U tests, all three null hypotheses were rejected. Effect size measured by Cohen’s d and eta squared indicated that the use of the standards-based progress report to communicate with parents had a medium, positive effect on academic achievement. Future research, including more testing with different demographics and lengths of time, is recommended.
