IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF MODIFIED SCHEDULING WITH YEAR-LONG, LOOPED COURSES TO IMPROVE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE FOR AT-RISK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

School systems have continued to search for ways to increase student achievement by adjusting pacing and course alignment but have continued to find limitations due to scheduling. A multitude of schedules shift the school day to improve performance and increase test scores and address instructional issues. In North Carolina, this restructuring has most commonly been accomplished through the use of the 4x4 block schedule and the traditional day schedule. Although schedules have been manipulated in a variety of ways to increase student achievement, there has been limited overall improvement, especially as it relates to at-risk students. The primary objective of this descriptive and evaluative study is to analyze the data from a previously implemented pilot scheduling program to determine the degree to which modified scheduling could impact the academic performance of students who have been identified as at risk during their ninth and tenth-grade year. This study analyzed the data related to the use of a year-long, looped course sequence and improved student academic performance in mathematics and English courses while also improving on-track performance for identified at-risk students as compared to their 4x4 block scheduled peers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the data related to this pilot program in order to discover if the modified scheduling block with looping had any measurable impact on the academic performance of the cohort. A secondary purpose of the study is to use student performance data from the same cohorts to determine if the impact of year-long, looped course sequence had an impact on student retention and dropout rates. Finally, it is the intention of this researcher to provide the results of the study to assist other practitioners in the development and implementation of modified scheduling with looping for at-risk students. Data collected will be used to evaluate if a year-long, looped course sequence with at-risk students resulted in any significant academic gains. Data sources will include the student achievement records of approximately forty at-risk first-year ninth grade students who were part of the pilot course sequence grouped into the year-long, looped mathematics and English courses for the 2016-2017 school year.