Examining the effects of a professional development initiative on English learning and economically disadvantaged adolescents’ scores on a high-stakes science test

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-10-2018

Publication Title

Journal of Science Teacher Education

Volume

2018

Abstract

This study addressed the pressing need to help adolescent English learning and economically disadvantaged student populations succeed in science and close achievement gaps. It reports the results of a two-year professional development initiative implemented at a high-poverty suburban high school in South Texas. We examined how the combination of purposeful planning, innovative academic vocabulary instruction, Saturday school, structured tutoring, and a timely focused review impacted the science achievement of EL and economically disadvantaged high-school students, at-risk of academic failure, on a high-stakes state exam. Difference-in-proportions tests were used to determine if students at the Intervention Campus showed positive achievement gains on a high-stakes state test. Then we analyzed data between schools by comparing high-stakes exam passing rates between the Intervention Campus and a Comparison Campus. This study found statistically significant results which suggest that the initiative was beneficial to the students within the Intervention Campus and showed promising effects when compared against a matched Comparison Campus.

Keywords

At-risk students, English learners, economically disadvantaged, high-stakes tests, science education

Language

eng

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