Chapter 4: Results
Introduction
This study aimed to investigate the effects of the mandatory retention policy on Florida district’s public schools on the academic achievement of students and graduation rates of public schools, particularly the public schools in the county in central Florida.
The research questions for this study were:
Is there a significant statistical difference in FCAT scores between retained and nonretained 3rd grade students from school year 2003 to 2004 to 2009 to 2010?
Is there a significant statistical relationship between the number of retained students and the number of graduates in the local school district from 2004 to 2014?
In response to the research questions, it was hypothesized that there would be a statistically significant difference in academic performance between retained and nonretained students. It was also hypothesized that retention would be significantly related with likelihood of graduation.
This chapter presents the results of the study after data gathering, which includes the demographic data and the findings of the statistical analysis. Also included is an explanation of the statistical tools used in the analysis. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was the software used to conduct the analysis while the G*Power software was used to determine for the appropriate sample size.
For data analysis, the available data from the Florida Department of Education was utilized. The data came from a population of 12,533 third grade students from school year 2005-2006. Such data consisted of gender, race, FCAT math and reading scores in school year 2010-2011, and graduation information in school year 2014-2015.
The data showed that there is an uneven number of retained and nonretained students. Also, the data showed that not all students in the data have information regarding their FCAT scores or if they were able to graduate. Department of Education represented explained to me that students with no information regarding FCAT scores during school year 2010-2011 and graduation data in school year 2014-2015 were students who dropped out or who did not continue with their program. In order to proceed with the study, equal representative samples from both retained and nonretained students were extracted from the population data using a table of random numbers, provided that the students have all FCAT and graduation information available. The appropriate sample size for each group was determined by computing for the sample size using the G*Power software. The results of the computation showed an appropriate sample size of 176 (88 retained and 88 nonretained) students.
Demographic Data
Out of the 176 third grade students in the study 89 (50.6%) were males and 87 (49.4%) were females. In terms of ethnicity, more than half of the participants were Black American while three participants were of Asian or other ethnicities. Around half of the participants were able to graduate while the other half were not able to. The participants were also almost equally divided into two in terms of retention. Table 1 shows the demographic data of the total number of participants in the study.
Research Question 1
Aside from the demographic data from the sample collected, I also computed descriptive statistics in terms of FCAT math and reading levels taken during school year 2010-2011. Table 1
Demographic Data of the Total Number of Students in the Study.
N
%
Gender
Male
89
50.6
Female
87
49.4
TOTAL
176
100
Ethnicity
Caucasian
28
15.9
Black American
99
56.3
Hispanic
46
26.1
Asian/Others
3
1.7
TOTAL
176
100
Graduation
Graduated
78
44.3
Did not Graduate
98
55.7
TOTAL
176
100
In terms of FCAT math levels, the results showed that nonretained students achieved higher levels than retained students, M = 2.53, SD = 0.922. In terms of FCAT reading levels, the results were the same as nonretained students were found to achieve higher levels than retained students, M = 2.05, SD = 0.958. Table 2 shows the comparison between the two groups of students across the two sets of FCAT levels.
In order to determine if the difference in FCAT levels are significant between retained and nonretained students, I conducted an independent sample t-test using the SPSS software. The results of the analysis showed that there is a significant statistical difference in FCAT math levels between retained and nonretained students, t (174) = 2.988, p < 0.05. Significant differences between retained and nonretained students were also found in terms of FCAT reading levels, t (174) = 2.821, p < 0.05. Table 3 shows the results of the t-tests.
Table 2
FCAT Levels Between Retained and Nonretained Students.
Retention
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Std. Error Mean
FCAT Math Level
Nonretained
88
2.53
.922
.098
Retained
88
2.13
.895
.095
FCAT Reading Level
Nonretained
88
2.05
.958
.102
Retained
88
1.67
.798
.085
ALevene’s test for equality of variances was also conducted to ensure that the variances are equal for the retained students and nonretained students groups. The results of the test showed that the variances among the two groups is equal.
Table 3
Independent Sample T-Test of FCAT Math and Reading Levels Between Retained and Nonretained Students.
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean Difference
Std. Error Difference
95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
Lower
Upper
FCAT Math Level
2.988
174
.003
.409
.137
.139
.679
FCAT Reading Level
2.821
174
.005
.375
.133
.113
.637
Research Question 2
The study also intended to investigate the relationship between retention and graduation rates among the students. In a cross tabulation on the number of students who graduated in school year 2014-2015 against whether they were retained or not as shown in Table 4, the findings showed that there were more retained students (59%) than nonretained students (41%) who were not able to graduate in school year 2014-2015. Also, there was a higher number of nonretained students (57.1%) who were able to graduate in school year 2014-2015 than retained students (42.9%).
Table 4
Cross Tabulation of Graduation Rates Between Retained and Nonretained Students In School Year 2014-2015.
Retention
Total
Nonretained
Retained
Graduation
No
Count
32
46
78
% within Graduation
41.0%
59.0%
100.0%
% within Retention
36.4%
52.3%
44.3%
% of Total
18.2%
26.1%
44.3%
Yes
Count
56
42
98
% within Graduation
57.1%
42.9%
100.0%
% within Retention
63.6%
47.7%
55.7%
% of Total
31.8%
23.9%
55.7%
Total
Count
88
88
176
% within Graduation
50.0%
50.0%
100.0%
% within Retention
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
% of Total
50.0%
50.0%
100.0%
In order to determine if retention has a significant relationship with graduation rates among students, a chi-square test was conducted. The results of the test revealed that there is a significant relationship between retention and graduation rates, X2 (1, N = 176) = 4.513, p < 0.05. This suggests that the number of students who graduated in school year 2014-2015 significantly differed in terms of retention. These findings, however, do not suggest a causal relationship.
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