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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to appraise the value of a program of alternative instruction offered to students identified as potential high school dropouts. Subjects of this study were students enrolled in a comprehensive high school within the Chicago Public School System. Data used included pre- and post-measures of attendance, academic achievement, in-school social behaviors, and perceptions about the value of the program and its congruence with recommended characteristics of alternative instructional programs. The research period extended throughout a single school year.
Sources of data were school records, written reports of student and teacher activities, and standardized test scores of academic performance. Perceptual data were obtained about content, effectiveness, and institutional value of the program through questionnaires and structured interviews administered to selected groups of students, parents and school personnel who had either direct or indirect involvement in the program. Statistical analyses of data were made by computation of t-tests for nonindependent samples, chi-square comparisons of group proportions and calculation of rank order correlation coefficients.
Findings. Sixty-two percent of the subjects improved in one or more of three areas for which pre- and post-measures were analyzed. Attendance of subjects while enrolled in the alternative instructional program was significantly higher than had been true during the preceding year (or two years) during which the student had been enrolled in the same high school (p < .01). When pretest and posttest measures of achievement were compared, significant gains were shown in academic achievement (p < .05). Disciplinary referrals were significantly lower than had been true for the same subjects prior to their enrollment in the program (p < .001).
Significant differences existed among groups in how characteristics of the transitional program were perceived; an alpha level of .05 was selected as the required level for statistical significance. Agreement among groups in assigning importance to characteristics of alternative education was not statistically significant (p > .632). Perceptual data collected from six groups surveyed showed eight percent or fewer of any group perceived the alternative instructional program to be ineffective. Sixty-four percent or more of the members in each group were positive about the value of the program.
