The Effects of the New Wake County Public School System Eighth Grade Promotion Standard During Its First Year of Implementation.

Abstract

This study focused on the new eighth grade promotion standard initially implemented in the Wake County Public School System during the 2000-2001 school year. The first part of the methodology compared the overall eighth grade promotion results for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 school years. This task was completed to determine whether or not a statistically significant difference in the annual promotion results existed in relation to the last year under the old promotion standard and the first academic campaign governed by the new promotion policy. A one sample t-test was used to complete this comparison.

The second part of the study pertained to analyses associated with the following student demographic characteristics: academically gifted, free/reduced lunch, female, male, minority, and special education. As a result of these efforts, conclusions regarding the presence or absence of statistically significant differences between demographic sub-groups' 2000-2001 eighth grade promotion rates were generated. Furthermore, comparisons between the demographic sub-groups' 2000-2001 eighth grade promotion rates and the total 2000-2001 eight grade promotion rate were conducted. Independent samples t-tests and one sample t-tests were used to complete these analyses.

Analyses to determine the presence of any statistically significant correlational relationships between these demographic characteristics and promotion rates were associated with the final sections of this study. The methodology involved the application of the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient and logit regression. Nonetheless, as with the second part of the study, the data to be analyzed only pertained to the 2000-2001 school year.

Overall, this study generated several important results. For example, a statistically significant difference between the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 total eighth grade promotion rates was identified. Thus, the Wake County Public School System eight grade promotion standard had an adverse effect on the promotion results during its first year of use. Achievement gaps between the demographic sub-groups, in relation to this new policy, also were found by this study's methodology. Furthermore, the target sub-group in need of the most attention to promote success with this new promotion policy was determined to be the special education students.