Publication Date

1965

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

McDowell, Dale||Ogilvie, William K.

Degree Name

M.S. Ed. (Master of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Education

LCSH

Student records

Abstract

Problem. The purpose of this study was to analyze the information found in the cumulative folders of selected junior high school students to determine the effect of domestic difficulties on academic performance in school. It was the basic assumption of this study that enough information could he found in the cumulative folders to conclude that domestic difficulties do have an effect on the performance of students in school. Procedure. Fifty-three junior high school students from grades seven, eight, and nine with a history of domestic difficulties were isolated. They were matched by I.Q., sex, and grade with a like number of students from unbroken homes for purposes of comparison. The I.Q. scores from the SRA Test of Primary Mental Abilities for the seventh grade administered the preceding year and the Otis Test, Beta Form for the eighth and ninth grades given the year of the study, were tabulated. The verbal reasoning percentiles from the Iowa Tests of basic Skills for the seventh grade, tins Stanford Test for the eighth grade, and the differential Aptitude Test for the ninth grade, all administered the preceding year were also tabulated. The information extracted from the emulative folder and analyzed concerned the spread of ages of the experimental and control groups, the range of I.Q. scores, absences per year for each grade, yearly grade point average for the major subjects in each grade, the sex of the individual from the broken homes, the causes of the broken home, and the educational and occupational level of the parents in both groups in this study. Findings and Conclusions. The study revealed: 1. There is a considerable lack of information in many areas, due either to poor record keeping or laxity in gathering essential information. 2. The exclusion from the cumulative folder of disciplinary action, health records and anecdotal data does not give a complete history of the student. The cumulative records as such are not performing the function for which they were originally instituted. 3. There is an urgent need for revision of the files to update than with current information concerning the student. 4. There is a need for all teachers to make greater use of the files by making the files accessible to everyone and to remove the secrecy surrounding them. 5. Divorce was found to be the major cause of broken houses, but because it was difficult to discover whether a house was broken or not because no clues, dates, or information was provided in many cases concerning divorce, separation or death of a parent, it was impossible to determine how many homes were broken. 6. Underachievement appeared more frequent in students from the experimental groups, but underachievement also appeared in students in the control groups. The verbal reasoning percentiles often were not compatible with grades earned in students with identical I.Q. scores. Underachievement in the verbal reasoning area should be studied for signals for disturbances in the home life of the student. 7. Boys out numbered girls in this study but this could be due to the matching techniques used in this study. This process also had a similar effect on age and I.Q. and no significant variation is to be found in these areas. 8. School absences were greater in the experimental group and increased as the grade level advanced, possibly leading up to dropping out of school. 9. Data on schooling and employment is incomplete and inadequate and one experimental group whose parents had more education beyond high school hinted that this might contribute to the breakup of the home. 10. There is an urgent need for counseling of underachievers in both broken and unbroken homes as well as those students with a history of absences and truancy. 11. The home room teacher could up-date the files and make the most use of them through group guidance of students within the homeroom influence.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

x, 67 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

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