ERIC Number: ED163054
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1978
Pages: 92
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
An Evaluation of the Middle Years Alternative Program. 1978.
Thompson, Eugene W.; Shein, Henry
The Middle Years Alternative program (MYA) designed for seventh and eighth graders, stresses such objectives as ungraded classes, informal assessment, personal goal setting, and parent and student participation. This evaluation report examined progress toward achieving MYA objectives, and tests two hypotheses implied in the literature: first, that only minimal differences in achievement exist between students in alternative and traditional classrooms and second, that classroom setting does make a difference in preferred learning style. The evaluation was designed to measure five variables: (1) academic achievement; (2) student attitudes; (3) parent attitudes; (4) teacher/counselor attitudes; and (5) cognitive style. Measures of academic achievement were school attendance records and scores on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) and the California Achievement Test (CAT). Researchers, parents, and teachers participated in constructing an opinion survey to measure their attitudes toward MYA. Other tests included the Group Embedded Figures Test, the Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale and three scales measuring attitudes toward learning processes, mathematics, and leanguage arts. There were no statistical differences on the academic and cognitive style measures between the 81 MYA students and two control groups: non-MYA students at the same school and a district-wide sample. Opinion survey responses indicated that all groups were generally enthusiastic about the program, but it was concluded that the MYA students did not necessarily have higher self concepts. (CP)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Ann Arbor Public Schools, MI. Office of Research and Evaluation.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A