The Effects of School Renaissance on Student Achievement in Two Mississippi School Districts: A Longitudinal Quasi-Experimental Study

Multiple schools, Biloxi/Pascagoula, Mississippi (MS)

Abstract:

DETAILS: Location: Pascagoula and Biloxi, Mississippi; Design: Independent, quasi-experimental; Sample: 10,000 students in grades 3-8, 23 treatment/18 control schools; Measures: Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT), Mississippi Writing Assessment; Duration: 2 years.

RESULTS: This report is the 2nd year of Ross and Nunnery, 2005 (available online.), which was designed to compare the achievement of students in schools in 2 school districts implementing Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math to students in matched control schools. The schools from one district began implementing Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math in January 2002, and the schools from the other district began implementation in August 2000. Thus, this analysis of 2004 achievement data relates to the 2nd and 4th full years of implementation at all schools. Results show that although program effects were not as strong and consistent as the prior school year (Ross & Nunnery, 2005), they remained generally positive: 16 out of 20 computed effect size estimates were positive. Supplementary analyses examined outcomes separately by school district, and examined the relationship of student-level implementation measures to achievement effects. Overall, these results indicate generally positive and sustainable impacts of Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math on student performance in program-independent, high-stakes testing. However, these impacts were predominantly evident in the district that implemented for 4 years and only minimally so in the district that implemented for 2 years, thus suggesting that sustained implementation was critical to success.

AUTHORS: Steven M. Ross, PhD and John A. Nunnery, PhD.

Report available online.

Publication Date:
07/01/2005