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COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE BASIC SKILLS ATTAINMENT OF SIXTH GRADE PUPILS IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN VOLUSIA COUNTY

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Date Issued:
1981
Summary:
At the time of this study the private schools in Volusia County were enjoying much publicity portraying them as institutions that provided a "better" quality of education for their students. A review of the literature revealed this view to be shared by many evaluators of current education programs. The findings of these evaluators were based on varying methodologies of obtaining data. In most cases, the public school students and the private school students were compared in unmatched groups. This study takes issue with the methodology used in those previous studies. The number of intervening variables allowed to interact makes the results suspect. In the present study, public and private school students were matched on five variables: sex, ethnic background, socioeconomic level, geographical location, and IQ. This decreased the number of intervening variables allowed to interact between the groups. The sixth grade students of seven private schools in Volusia County participated in the study. For each of the 187 private school students, a public school sixth grade student of the same sex, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, geographical region, and IQ was chosen. These students were given the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills in Mathematics, Language and Reading. Comparison of scores between groups showed that the public school sample scored significantly higher on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills than the private school students. The public school students had a mean standard score of 535 compared to a mean of 500 for private school students. Converted to grade equivalents, the scores of public school students yielded a mean placement of eighth grade, seventh month versus seventh grade, seventh month for private school students. This reflected an achievement level one year greater for the public school student than the private school student. When these results were submitted to careful statistical controls, it was found the assumption of homogeneity of variance was not violated.
Title: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE BASIC SKILLS ATTAINMENT OF SIXTH GRADE PUPILS IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN VOLUSIA COUNTY.
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Name(s): TRAVIS, DONALD O'NEIL
Florida Atlantic University, Degree Grantor
College of Education
School of Public Administration
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1981
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 82 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: At the time of this study the private schools in Volusia County were enjoying much publicity portraying them as institutions that provided a "better" quality of education for their students. A review of the literature revealed this view to be shared by many evaluators of current education programs. The findings of these evaluators were based on varying methodologies of obtaining data. In most cases, the public school students and the private school students were compared in unmatched groups. This study takes issue with the methodology used in those previous studies. The number of intervening variables allowed to interact makes the results suspect. In the present study, public and private school students were matched on five variables: sex, ethnic background, socioeconomic level, geographical location, and IQ. This decreased the number of intervening variables allowed to interact between the groups. The sixth grade students of seven private schools in Volusia County participated in the study. For each of the 187 private school students, a public school sixth grade student of the same sex, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, geographical region, and IQ was chosen. These students were given the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills in Mathematics, Language and Reading. Comparison of scores between groups showed that the public school sample scored significantly higher on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills than the private school students. The public school students had a mean standard score of 535 compared to a mean of 500 for private school students. Converted to grade equivalents, the scores of public school students yielded a mean placement of eighth grade, seventh month versus seventh grade, seventh month for private school students. This reflected an achievement level one year greater for the public school student than the private school student. When these results were submitted to careful statistical controls, it was found the assumption of homogeneity of variance was not violated.
Identifier: 11791 (digitool), FADT11791 (IID), fau:8718 (fedora)
Note(s): Thesis (Educat.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1981.
Subject(s): Private schools--Florida--Volusia County--Evaluation
Public schools--Florida--Volusia County--Evaluation
Sixth grade (Education)
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/11791
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.