A Comparison of the Academic Achievement of Seventh-day Adventist Elementary Students by School Type: The Influence of Teacher, Student, Parent, and School Variables

Enrollment in Seventh-day Adventist schools is declining as is the number of schools and teachers. While there could be many reasons for this, one perception of SDA schools, held by parents, teachers, pastors, and school board members, is that students enrolled in schools with one, two, or three teachers do not achieve at the same rate as those in schools with four or more teachers. This study compares the academic achievement of students in grades three through eight in different types of schools (designated by number of teachers) and the interaction of teacher, student, parent, and school variables with school type. Data from the CognitiveGenesis research study, including student, parent, teacher, and administrator surveys and Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) test results, were used in this analysis. Results indicated that there were no significant differences in student achievement in reading, science, and social studies among the school types. Students in one-teacher schools had significantly higher achievement than did students in the other three school types in the following areas: language arts, mathematics, sources of information, and the composite score and the effects were consistent across grades three through eight. The differences were small. There were nine significant interactions between school type and student, parent, teacher, and school characteristics on achievement. In the few areas where there was interaction between school type and student and teacher characteristics, the interaction was relatively small. Seventh-day Adventist educators are encouraged to share the finding that while there were differences in achievement among the four school types, and small schools do as well or better academically than larger schools, these differences were small.

Availability:
For Sale
Publication Date:
2009
Author:
Denise Sue White
Order Information:
Full text available online through ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Completed through La Sierra University. (AAT 3374324)
Language:
English
Resource Type:
Unpublished Plans & Papers; Internet Resources
Resource Objective:
Assessment & Evaluation; Research
Level:
Kindergarten-Grade 12
Audience:
Administrator / Leader, Teacher / Faculty, Researcher
Religious Origin:
Seventh-day Adventist