An evaluation of the usefulness of Light's Retention Scale /
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| Other Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1985.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Link to ProQuest copy Link to OAKTrust copy ProQuest, Abstract |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this research was to evaluate the usefulness of Light's Retention Scale (LRS) as a measure of retention candidacy with elementary school children. Major questions of the study concerned 1) differences between promoted and retained students on total LRS scores, 2) differences in academic progress over two years, 3) an evaluation of Light's recommended LRS cutoff points for retention decisions, and 4) predictability of the 19 LRS categories in class placement. Subjects for the study were 53 retained first graders and 87 promoted second graders enrolled in a large suburban school district in southeast Texas. The sample was largely white and of middle socioeconomic status. LRS questionnaires were administered to all subjects, and Science Research Associates (SRA) reading and mathematics achievement scores were obtained over a two year period. Reliability estimates obtained in this study suggest the LRS is not measuring one overall retention construct. Results of the study indicated that there were lower LRS total scores on the average for children who were eventually retained in the first grade than those who were eventually promoted to the second grade at the end of their first grade experience. For this sample, the cutoff score that was most predictive in classifying students either to be retained or not was much lower than the recommended cutoff score in the LRS manual. Through the process of discriminant analysis, each of the 19 items of the LRS were evaluated to assess the contribution of each item toward predicting retained or promoted status. The item tapping the traditional area about achievement contributed the most to prediction followed by items measuring student's attitude about retention, history of delinquency, and history of learning disabilities, in that order. The other 15 items did not contribute statistically beyond these four. Using analysis of covariance, it was determined that the retained children made significant academic gains in reading during their retained year in the first grade, achieving on par with low functioning promoted second graders. They did not appear to "catch up" in mathematics... |
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| Item Description: | "Major subject: School Psychology." Typescript (photocopy). Vita. |
| Physical Description: | ix, 96 leaves ; 29 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-76). |