ERIC Number: EJ1096946
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Jun
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1941-3394
EISSN: N/A
Environmental Impacts on GPA for Accelerated Schools: A Values and Behavioral Approach
Deviney, David; Mills, LaVelle H.; Gerlich, R. Nicholas
Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, v3 Jun 2010
This research explores the impact of students' ability to adjust to school environment at a residential accelerated upper-level high school for math and science. Students in their junior and senior years were given the DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness) behavioral instrument and tracked over a two year period. The DISC has been used in job profiling to help companies make better hiring decisions such that employee retention and job success are maximized. The DISC identifies a person's adapted behaviors based on what he or she believes about the environment, and also identifies the person's natural or preferred behaviors. Stress from the environment can be measured by reviewing the difference between the adapted and natural behaviors. Dissimilarity between the adapted and natural behavioral styles would indicate more stress related to the environment. The individual difference scores for the four DISC components were added to create a new variable, TotalD. The study used multiple regression analysis to assess the impact of TotalD scores on the outgoing GPA of the student. Results indicate that the greater the TotalD score, the lower the outgoing GPA. Further analysis showed via t-tests that students with an outgoing GPA of 3.60 or higher were most affected by this TotalD score. This research illustrates that the DISC can be used with relatively young subjects to determine how well they are adjusting to the environment. Findings can also be used to help improve retention at the institution and better predict those who may be most at risk for attrition.
Descriptors: Grade Point Average, Acceleration (Education), Student Adjustment, Residential Schools, High School Students, Mathematics Education, Science Education, Measures (Individuals), Educational Environment, Stress Variables, Individual Differences, Scores, Multiple Regression Analysis, School Holding Power, Predictor Variables, Student Attrition, At Risk Students, Preferences
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A