Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Keith D. Wright

Abstract

In response to students’ poor algebra achievement, Midtown High School, a pseudonym, implemented a school-wide math intervention and enrichment program during the 2014-2015 school year. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to assess the influence of the intervention on Algebra I and Algebra II end-of-course (EOC) exam achievement scores as well as explore math teachers’ perspectives of the intervention program. The theoretical foundation was constructivism. A consensus sample using archival data from all 419 high school students taking Algebra before the intervention 2013-2014 and after the intervention 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 were used with teacher interviews for triangulation. ANOVA results indicated a significant difference between the treatment and comparison groups, F(1,403) = 12.91, p = .00. As related to Algebra I, the intervention group performed significantly lower than the comparison group (M = 40.99 and M = 52.26, respectively). There were no significant differences found for Algebra II EOC scores for either the 2014-2015 or 2015-2016 school years. Qualitatively, the most notable theme was inadequate implementation fidelity of the intervention program, which helped explain the lower Algebra I performance of the treatment group. Based on these results, a policy recommendation was developed for the school to create and implement a systematic process for measuring academic intervention implementation fidelity, to include creating a leadership team and the introduction of a systematic process for improving measurement fidelity. Following policy recommendations could lead to social change by improving high school mathematics achievement, thereby improving high school graduation rates and increasing postsecondary opportunities.

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