An evaluation of a program offering extra time to help students achieve success with academic mathematics

Kavanagh, Geraldine Mary (1991) An evaluation of a program offering extra time to help students achieve success with academic mathematics. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate a program offering extra time to certain students who have a demonstrated difficulty with academic mathematics. The intention of this program is to help these students achieve success with academic mathematics. As a consequence, it is hoped that the attitude of these students toward mathematics would improve if their achievement improved. -- To evaluate this program, several different methods were undertaken. All eight classes given the extra time were given an attitude survey twice as a pretest and posttest to see if any change in attitude towards mathematics took place. As well, the end of year marks were obtained for this group of students and a comparable group who studied the same courses but who did not receive the extra time. In addition, both of these groups were given a 25 item test developed by the researcher. Interviews were conducted with the seven teachers involved with the teaching of the classes that had received the extra time. Finally, a videotape was made of two of the eight classes to obtain information on how the extra time was used. -- The data collected with the attitude surveys was tested using t-tests. The test scores for the two comparable groups was compared using a two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). As well, a great deal of qualitative data was collected on the group receiving extra time and this was also reported on. -- This study focused on two questions, one dealing with the achievement of the group and one dealing with their attitudes towards mathematics. The results indicate a very slight increase in the achievement of these students on the final evaluation. There was no significant difference on the 25 item test. There was also no significant change in the attitude of these students after they received the extra time studying mathematics. -- Based on the findings of this study, the researcher concluded that evaluating a program is indeed a difficult task. After spending a great deal of time on this evaluation, I was unable to ascertain whether the program was successful or not. It was recommended that a much more controlled experiment would be necessary to evaluate this type of program.

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