Publication Date

1967

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Miller, Herbert (Professor of mathematics)||Beach, James W.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Mathematics

LCSH

Mathematical ability--Testing

Abstract

At the time a community school district was formed from the towns of Genoa, Illinois and its smaller neighbor, Kingston, only three miles away, in 1957, sections of seventh and eighth grades were retained in Kingston as self-contained classrooms whereas those in Genoa were departmentalized. This compromise was devised so that the smaller community could compete separately in basketball. Recently, some elements of the community, as well as the faculty and administration of the district school have proposed centralized programs for seventh and eighth grades which would require that all these pupils attend one building, and other elements have resisted, apparently motivated primarily by athletic pride. No studies of relative effectiveness of the educational programs under these two situations have been undertaken to provide educational arguments in favor of change or releaving the status quo. Accordingly this study was made to determine if any difference in mathematics achievement exists between the Genoa and Kingston pupils. The data was compiled for the present junior class which consists of students from both Genoa and Kingston. The I.B.M. 1620 computer at the Computer Center, Northern Illinois University, was used to analyze the data. The Genoa group was found to have higher means for each grade four through eight on mathematics achievement grade-equivalent scores. This difference became progressively larger from grade four to eight. Analysis of variance and the F test, however, showed no significant differences existed between the two groups. After these hypotheses were tested analysis of covariance was used with the F test holding I.Q. and reading scores as covariates. Still there was no significant difference. The test did show that I.Q. and reading test scores are significant predictors of success in mathematics. As a result of the tests several null hypotheses were accepted. Thus, based on this study, no reason could be advanced for further consolidation of the seventh and eighth grades. The fact that differences in mathematical achievement existed, even though non-significant, and increased as the pupils moved through the grades from four to eight suggests that at least two other types of studies might reveal arguments for further consolidation at the junior-high- school level: (1) studies similar to the present one in other areas of the curriculum, and (2) extension of the comparison into high-school grades in a variety of areas, including mathematics.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

39 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

Text

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