A comparison of student achievement in three school-day scheduling patterns for secondary students enrolled in the agriscience course Animal Science /
Reports such as A Nation at Risk (1983), Prisoners of Time (1994), and Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution (1996) have called for educational reform. A recurring message has been to change the fundamental structure of the school day, including allocation of time within the day. Educatio...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1999.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=730298461&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Reports such as A Nation at Risk (1983), Prisoners of Time (1994), and Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution (1996) have called for educational reform. A recurring message has been to change the fundamental structure of the school day, including allocation of time within the day. Educational researchers (Bloom, 1974., Carroll, 1989) have linked the uses of school-day time and the achievement of students. The primary purpose of this research was to compare student achievement in a secondary-level course in animal science across three school-day scheduling patterns. Another purpose was to describe the level of satisfaction of agriscience teachers with their current school-day schedule. The target populations consisted of students enrolled in and the instructors teaching the course Animal Science (AGSC 332) in Texas public schools during the fall of 1998. The "experimental units'' were individual classes and teachers, with individual students serving as "sampling units'' within an agriscicnce class. Forty-five teachers and schools representing three different scheduling patterns participated (23 "traditional" classes, 341 students; 12 "modefied A/B," 189 students; and 10 "nine-week (4X4),'' 136 students). Student achievement was measured with a test containing 56 items covering nutrition, reproduction, health, and management of livestock and poultry. The items were also based on Newcomb and Trefz' (1987) "levels of learning'' model (23 lower- and 33 higher-order thinking skill items). Teachers responded to 19 multiple-choice items describing themselves and their schools and to 24 items comprising the scale of teacher satisfaction with school-day schedule. No significant difference in achievement was found between students enrolled on a Traditional school-day schedule and students on a block schedule. But, students receiving instruction on a Modified A/B schedule performed significantly better than did students on a Nine-Week (4X4) schedule. Further, the Modified A/B scheduled teachers were significantly more satisfied with their current schedule. Thus, it appeared that the Modified A/B schedule was superior to the Nine-Week (4X4) schedule. Further analysis removing the effects of two moderator variables (teacher tenure and length of FFA membership) negated those differences in achievement. Thus, only with caution could one conclude that the Modified A/B pattern is the superior schedule. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Agricultural Education". |
| Physical Description: | xvi, 227 leaves ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-192). |