dr. william allan kritsonis, dissertation chair for elias alex torrez, dissertation defense ppt

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The Impact of Smaller Learning

Communities on Closing the

Achievement Gaps among Student

Population Groups in Texas High Schools

A Dissertation by

Alex TorrezDissertation Chair: William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

PhD Program in Educational Leadership

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William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

Dissertation Chair

-----------------------------------------------

Carl Gardiner, EdD

Patricia Hoffman-Miller, PhD

Solomon Osho, PhD

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I. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

II. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

IV. METHOD

V. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

VI. FINDINGS

VI. RECOMMENDATIONS

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Smaller Learning Communities

Student Academic

Achievement Gaps

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Smaller

Learning

Communities

ELA/Mathematics TAKS/

Eco. Disadvantaged

Attendance

ELA/Mathematics TAKS/

Sub-Populations

Completion Rate

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The purpose of this conceptual quantitative study is

to determine if a difference exists between the

implementation of the career-themed smaller SLC

design and an increase in high school students’

academic achievement, attendance, and high school

completion rate between populations as reported in

the Texas Education Agency AEIS report.

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Is there a difference in student achievement between career-themed Smaller Learning Communities (SLCs) and traditional high schools, as reported on the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) for Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in ELA/Reading for ethnic and economically disadvantaged subpopulations?

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Is there a difference in student achievement

between career-themed SLCs and traditional high

schools, as reported on the AEIS for TAKS in

Mathematics for ethnic and economically

disadvantaged subpopulations?

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Is there a difference in student attendance


schools, as reported in the AEIS?

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Is there a difference in student completion rates


schools, as reported in the AEIS?

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What factors are driving Transformation?

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In the 2009 Comprehensive report on Texas public schools, TEA (2009) stated that:

―In the 2008-09 school year, 48 percent (2,292,574) of the 4,749,571 public school students in Texas were identified as at risk of dropping out of school, the same percentage as in the previous year. On the 2009 TAKS assessments, students not at risk out-performed at-risk students at all grade levels and on all subjects tested‖. (p. viii)

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Fryer and Levitt (2004) noted, ―on average, black

students typically score one standard deviation

below white students on standardized tests –

roughly the difference in performance between

the average 4th grader and the average 8th

grader‖ (p. 64).

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16.7

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ears

10 to

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45 to

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* Projections are shown for the 1.0 scenario

17.719.3 19.9 20.3 19.8 19.3 19.4 20.5 20.6

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ears

10 to

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15 to

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24

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30 to

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80.0Percent

Anglo Hispanic

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Lopez (2006):

―By 2050 the Anglo population is projected to be near 211 million people, the black population 61 million people, the Latino population 103 million people, and the Asian population nearly 33 million people. These changes represent only a 7.4 % increase for non-Latino Anglos, compared to 71.3 % growth for Blacks, 188 % growth for Latinos, and 212.9 % growth for the Asian population‖. (p.5)

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Among minority students, the problem is even more severe with nearly 50 percent of African American and Hispanic students not completing high school on time (America's Promise Alliance, 2009).

The achievement gap is not closing fast enough to ensure improved living and earning opportunities for these sub-populations. According to Zhao (2009, p. 13), ―these gaps almost certainly put the minorities at a disadvantage for securing high-income jobs in the future.‖

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The complexities resulting from a global

economy and an evolving workforce magnify the

importance of not just graduating students but

ensuring that they are well equipped with the

21st century skills they are going to need to

succeed.

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H01 - There is no statistically significant

difference in student achievement between

career-themed SLCs and traditional high

schools, as reported on the AEIS for TAKS in

ELA/Reading for ethnic and economically

disadvantaged subpopulations.

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difference in student achievement between


schools, as reported on the AEIS for TAKS

Mathematics for ethnic and economically

disadvantaged subpopulation.

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difference in student attendance between


schools, as reported in the AEIS.

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difference in student dropout/completion

between career-themed SLCs and traditional

high schools, as reported in the AEIS.

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The independent variable identified in the study

is the cohort of schools implementing the SLC

design and their paired counterpart traditional

high schools.

Dependent Variable – Student achievement based

on change in Mathematics and Reading/English

Language Arts TAKS scores, completion

rate, attendance.

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Subjects of the Study

(1). 21 Texas public high schools that have

implemented smaller learning

communities with career academies

(2). 21 Texas public traditional high schools

(3). Grades 9 through 12

(4). Total student enrollment minimum of

1500 students

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Step 1:

Researched and Selected Career

Academy SLCs

Department of Education Smaller

Learning Communities Program

Texas High School Project

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Texas schools that attended the 2010 Smaller Learning Communities National Conference: From Structure to Instruction conference at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas obtained from Education Northwest

The National Career Academy Coalition

Extensive internet search

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Step 2: Downloaded the AEIS report from the TEA website from the 21 career themed SLC schools selected.

Step 3:A convenience sample of 21 traditional schools was selected from the TEA assigned school cohort. The schools were selected based on the TEA cohort school that is most similar in size, ethnic subpopulations (African American, Hispanic, and White), and economically disadvantaged.

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Step 4: Collected the AEIS data

Step 5: Disaggregated the data by ethnic and economically

disadvantaged

ELA scores

Mathematics scores

Attendance

Completion

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Step 6:SPSS was utilized to disaggregate and analyze data

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

Step 7:Interpreted the results of the statistical procedure

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The academies are designed to address the broad spectrum of student interest and career possibilities and provide transferable skills. The goals of the Academies are to open a student's mind to relevancy of academic courses and to show how high standards relate to career success.

In addition to the essential academic elements, students will develop knowledge regarding careers where they may best utilize their talents and aptitudes.

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Academy of Business, Marketing & Finance

Academy of Consumer Science & Education

Academy of Fine Arts, Communications & Humanities

Academy of Government, Law & Criminal Justice

Academy of Health Science

Academy of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

Academy of Veterinary & Agricultural Science

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Alliance for Excellence in Education

America's Promise AllianceAmong minority students, the problem is even more severe with nearly 50 percent of African American and Hispanic students not completing high school on time (America's Promise Alliance, 2009).

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Bill & Melinda Gates ―It has been estimated that between 53% and 55% of minority students nationwide are not completing high school in the four-year format‖ (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2003, p. 2).

Bill Daggett, International Center for Education

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory

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Partnership for 21st Century Skills

1. Competencies needed to succeed in the current economy and prepare

for the changing world as a wage earner and citizen (Partnership for 21st

Century Skills, 2004).

2. Wolfe (2007) explained, "In virtually any occupation, learning is part

of the job. Gone are the days when employees learned to master a

single task and then spent the next 40 years repeating that task‖ (p. 40).

U.S. Department of Education

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Schlechty, P. (2009). Leading for learning: How to transform schools into learningorganizations (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA:Jossey Bass Publications.

―Transformation by necessity includes altering the

beliefs, values, and meanings – the culture – in which

programs are embedded, as well as changing the current

system of rules, roles, and relationships – social structure –

so that the innovations needed will be supported‖. (p. 3)

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Cotton, K. (2001). New small learning communities: Findings from recent literature. (ERIC No. ED459539). Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

1. Self-determination

2. Identity

3. Personalization

4. Support for Teaching

5. Functional

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Daniels, D., Bizar, M., & Zemelman, S. (2001). Rethinking high schools: Best practice in teaching, learning, and leadership.Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, A division of Reed Elsevier.

―Research has been rapidly accumulating that, as far as high schools are concerned, size does matter – and smaller is better‖ (p. 27).

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Sammon, G. (2008). Creating and sustaining smaller learning: Strategies and tools for transforming high schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Noted that SLCs, when done well and comprehensively, build in the rigor, relevance, and relationships that lead to the all-important results we seek in school improvement.

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Schargel, F., & Smink, J. (2001). Strategies tohelp solve our school dropout problem.Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Strong leaders know that decreasing the dropout out rate

―requires fundamental changes in curriculum design

process, work-flow design, and staff training; it demands

creative technology use and the development of partnerships

with key stakeholders‖ (p. 10).

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Klimek, K., Ritzenhein, E., & Sullivan, K. (2008). Generative leadership: Shaping newfutures for today’s schools. Thousand Oaks,CA: Corwin Press.

―Generative leaders see their school as a dynamic system that is being co-created through the interactions of all its participants internally and with the outside environment. They emphasize systems thinking consistently. They question assumptions and presumed limits of an issue that are embedded in the prevailing mental models‖. (p. 55)

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Schlechty (2009) states:

―Make no mistake, transformation is not as

simple as installing a new program, a new

process or new procedure. Unlike efforts to

improve the operation of existing

systems, transformation requires more than

changes in what people do; it requires changes in

what they think and what they feel about what

they do‖. (p. 210)

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Oxley (2006) states:

―The central feature of a high-functioning SLC

(Small Learning Community) is an

interdisciplinary team (or teams) of teachers who

work closely together with a group of students

they share in common for instruction.

Traditional schools organize teachers around

subject areas or departments‖. (p. 22)

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Subpopulation of Interest

SLC Non-SLC df* F-ratio Sig**

ELA African

American

91.94 92.38 31 .035 .852

ELA Hispanic 91.48 92.10 41 .195 .659

ELA White 97.53 96.53 37 .848 .363

ELA Eco. Dis. 90.33 90.90 41 .163 .688

*Degrees of freedom (df = N-1) vary as a result of case exclusions due to AEIS

practice of not reporting subpopulations unrepresented on a particular campus.

**No statistically significant differences were found within the AEIS reported

ELA/Reading Rates between selected SLC high school campuses and non-SLC high

schools for any subpopulation of interest, African-American, Hispanic, White, or

Economically Disadvantages at the p <.05 criterion value.

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Math African

American

86.69 84.44 31 .71 .463

Math Hispanic 89.76 87.05 39 1.53 .134

Math White 96.21 94.32 33 1.64 .111

Math Eco. Dis. 88.71 85.90 40 1.64 .110

*Degrees of freedom (df = N-1) vary as a result of case exclusions due to AEIS



Mathematics Rates between selected SLC high school campuses and non-SLC high

schools for any subpopulation of interest, African-American, Hispanic, White, or

Economically Disadvantages at the p <.05 criterion value.

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Campus 93.414 93.578 41 .651 .424

African American 93.790 94.321 37 .520 .476

Hispanic 92.567 93.691 41 2.972 .092

White 93.871 93.619 41 .105 .748

Eco. Dis. 92.26 93.238 41 2.932 .095

* Degrees of freedom (df = N-1) vary as a result of case exclusions due to AEIS practice

of not reporting subpopulations unrepresented on a particular campus.

** No statistically significant differences were found within the AEIS reported

Attendance Rates between selected SLC high school campuses and non-SLC high schools

nor were differences found between African-American, Hispanic, White, or Economically

Disadvantages subpopulations at these campuses at the p <.05 criterion value.

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Subpopulationof Interest


Campus 91.585 91.400 39 .009 .924

African American 89.333 91.327 29 .467 .500

Hispanic 90.180 90.460 39 .020 .889

White 95.145 92.116 38 1.256 .270

Eco. Dis. 89.725 90.760 39 .424 .519

*Degrees of freedom (df = N-1) vary as a result of case exclusions due to AEIS practice

of not reporting subpopulations unrepresented or underrepresented within a particular

campus.


Completion Rates between selected SLC high school campuses and non-SLC high

schools for any subpopulation at these campuses at the p <.05 criterion value.

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Subpopulation Of Interest

N Mean Std. Dev. *df **Sig

Pair 1 ELA AA-ELA White 32 92.16--97.44 6.471--2169 31 .000

Pair 2 ELA AA- ELA

Hispanic32 92.16--92.53 6.471—4.600 31 .703

Pair 3 ELA Hispanic-ELA

White

38 92.16—97.03 4.415—3.341 37 .000

* Degrees of freedom (df = N-1) vary as a result of case exclusions due to AEIS


**Statistically significant differences were found within the AEIS reported in Reading/

ELA for all selected SLC high school campuses and non-SLC high schools for the

subpopulation of interest, African-American, Hispanic, White, or Economically

Disadvantages at the p <.05 criterion value.

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SubpopulationOf Interest

N Mean Std. Dev. *df **Sig

Pair 1 Math AA-Math

White32 85.56--95.59 8.879--2.781 31 .000

Pair 2 Math AA- Math

Hispanic32 85.56--89.50 8.879—5.442 31 .002

Pair 3 Math Hispanic-

White38 88.95--95.26 5.467—3.652 37 .000

* Degrees of freedom (df = N-1) vary as a result of case exclusions due to AEIS


**Statistically significant differences were found within the AEIS reported in

Mathematics for all selected SLC high school campuses and non-SLC high schools for

the subpopulation of interest, African-American, Hispanic, White, or Economically

Disadvantages at the p <.05 criterion value.

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The review of literature, findings for each question of

the study, and their subsequent conclusions provide

the basis for the following recommendations.

1. School districts must select innovative and contemporary leaders who are prepared to initiate change in the 21st century.

2. Educational leaders should implement disruptive transformation designs in an effort to close the achievement gaps of subpopulations.

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3. Educational leaders must support the selected design

for 7 to 10 years to create authentic and systemic

transformation.

4. Educational leaders must use effective communication

to ensure the alignment and success of professional

development.

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1. A qualitative study could be conducted of

SLCs and their relationship to student performance.

2. A national study could be conducted comparing the

difference between ACT and SAT scores between

SLC schools and traditional high schools.

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3. A study could be conducted comparing the

difference in teacher retention between SLC and

traditional high schools.

4. A study could be conducted on SLCs and their

impact on student performance for African American, Hispanic, and White subpopulations for the four 11th grade required TAKS tests.

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5. A study could be conducted in which different types

of Smaller Learning Communities are compared on

student performance.

6. A study could be conducted comparing the difference

in student achievement for the schools studied in this research for multiple years.

7. A study could be conducted comparing traditional

small schools of 900 students or less to large schools of 1500 students or more that have implemented SLCs.

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Future transformation efforts must have

a core axis overhauling the inherent

shortfalls of an outdated system of

delivering instruction that was designed

to reflect the 19th century industry model.

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As transformational discussions continue

toward the quest for change, I believe

there is still much to learn about Smaller

Learning Communities and this design

will stay at the forefront of this

movement.

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Thank You

dr. william allan kritsonis, dissertation chair for elias alex torrez, dissertation defense ppt

Education

texas high schools

traditional high schools

student achievement

texas public schools

careerthemed slcs

percent of texas population

public school students

achievement gapin