ERIC Number: ED558990
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 137
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 978-1-3032-7739-9
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Improving Math Performance in High Risk Schools: A Qualitative Study
Pena, Leticia M.
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Capella University
The researcher developed a case study using a qualitative research methodology to describe the functions of a team of math teachers in a professional learning community in a Title 1 low performing high school that led to increased student achievement. The tenth-grade Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) mathematics results for the 2011-2012 school year were used to explore the relationship between professional learning communities and academic achievement in a Title 1High School in South Texas that served a large population of economically disadvantaged, at-risk students. This case study attempted to uncover the processes, strategies, and practices used by the math department within the professional learning community that led to improvement and a narrowing of the learning achievement gap by all of the tenth-grade students, including all of the subgroups as identified by the NCLB act, on the mathematics portion of the TAKS test. After a careful review of the data, the researcher coded the interviews and found that many of the characteristics of a professional learning community as defined by DuFour and Eaker (1998) in "Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement," were inherent in the processes, strategies, and practices utilized by the math team in the professional learning community during the 2011-2012 school year at Excellence High School, a pseudonym for the research site. This math team that acted in a professional learning community had a positive effect on the teaching and learning at Excellence High School where the majority of students were economically disadvantaged. It transformed a school that had not met Adequate Yearly Progress in mathematics and increased their scores from 69% of the students to 85% of the students meeting the performance standards in the mathematics TAKS test. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Case Studies, Qualitative Research, Communities of Practice, Mathematics Teachers, Low Achievement, High Schools, Secondary School Teachers, Mathematics Achievement, Teamwork, Scores, Achievement Gains, Economically Disadvantaged, Grade 10, Educational Legislation, Federal Legislation, Educational Indicators
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education; Grade 10
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Texas
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: No Child Left Behind Act 2001
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A