Date

6-2010

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

Constance Pearson

Primary Subject Area

Education, Secondary

Keywords

at-risk students, attendance, graduation coach, math standardized test scores, middle school, reading standardized test scores

Abstract

Until graduation coaches were added to all Georgia high schools for the 2006-2007 school year, the state of Georgia had one of the lowest graduation rates in the United States. After the high school graduation coaches were found to be successful in decreasing the dropout rate, coaches were added at the middle school level beginning in the 2008-2009 school year. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the middle school graduation coach on the attendance and the math and reading CRCT scores of the at-risk student. A control group of at-risk students that did not receive treatment was compared to the experimental group that received treatment from the middle school graduation coach during the 2008-2009 school year. The pretest and posttest math and reading CRCT scores and attendance were analyzed using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to determine if the middle school graduation coach had a significant effect on the at-risk students. The hypotheses that the graduation coach would have an effect on the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade at-risk students' attendance and math and reading CRCT scores were rejected because the ANCOVA found that any significant increases or decreases were not due to the effect of the middle school graduation coach. Analysis of gender was completed using a paired t-test and found significant increases in the math and reading CRCT scores of males in the experimental group and the reading CRCT scores of females in the control group.

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