Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
High school attendance--Iowa--Marshalltown; Academic achievement; Earth sciences--Study and teaching (Secondary); High school attendance; Iowa--Marshalltown; Academic theses;
Abstract
This research studied the relationship between the attendance patterns of ninth grade high school students and achievement, in a required ninth grade Earth Science course as defined by course grades, in a medium sized Midwestern school district. Data was collected from a school district computerized system spanning a five year period from August of 2000 to June of 2005 and included 3667 data sets. The data consisted of course grades as indicated by A, B, C, D, and F and the number of days absent for each semester. The research question framing the study was, "Is there a statistically significant correlation between student attendance and grades earned in an Earth Science class?" Data was analyzed using the Chi-Square test using five grade categories and two attendance categories. Above average attendance was defined as being present in the class eighty-four or more days out of a ninety day semester; below average attendance was defined as being present less than eighty-four days. A statistically significance difference was shown between student attendance and academic achievement at the 0.0005 level. A greater number of A's and B's were earned in the class by students with an above average attendance rate than expected; conversely, students with below average attendance earned more C' and D's than expected. This supports two conclusions; a) the more a student is absent from the classroom, the higher the likelihood the level of academic achievement will be diminished, and b) inversely, the more a student is in attendance in the class the better the probability he/she will achieve a higher grade. This supports the significance of lost time in a classroom on achievement in learning science.
Year of Submission
2006
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Biology
First Advisor
Cherin Lee
Second Advisor
Tim Cooney
Third Advisor
Lyn Countryman
Date Original
2006
Object Description
1 PDF file (49 leaves)
Copyright
©2006 Gregory Lee Schafer
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Schafer, Gregory Lee, "Student Attendance and Its Relationship to Student Achievement in an Earth Science Class" (2006). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2168.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2168
Comments
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