Volume 2 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal of K-12 Educational Research - Page 47

Journal of K-12 Educational Research 45 performance was statistically significant based on the grouping of students in the seventh-grade science classes. The following four research questions and six hypotheses guided the current study. Research Question 1 (RQ1) How do the science State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness mean scale scores for stu- dents in eighth-grade Pre-Advanced Placement science differ on three types of grouping in seventh-grade science and are scores different based on socioeconomic status? Research Question 2 (RQ2) Are there significant mean differ - ences on the eighth-grade science State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness between regular tracked science students who in seventh grade were in heterogeneous science classes or were in regular science classes? Research Question 3 (RQ3) Are there significant mean differ - ences on the eighth-grade science State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness between students enrolled in eighth-grade Pre-AP science who are Black, Hispanic, or White? Research Question 4 (RQ4) How do eighth-grade Pre-Ad - vanced Placement students who were in seventh grade Pre-Ad - vanced Placement science and eighth-grade Pre-Advanced Place - ment students who were in heterogeneous seventh-grade science compare on Level II and Level III scale scores as measured on the eighth-grade science State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness? Reults and Findings The total number of students represented was 5,130 with 1,374 students in the heterogeneous seventh-grade classes and 3,756 students in homogeneous seventh-grade classes—either regular or Pre-AP. The frequencies and percentages indicate that students with high SES (69.7%) are more likely to be in Pre-AP classes than low SES (30.3%) and students who are White, though not even half of the total population at 46.2%, comprise more than half of the total percent of students in Pre-AP at 55.5%. Students who are Black make up 9.2% of the Pre-AP population and 15.2% of the total population. The students who are Hispanic make up 20% of the Pre-AP population and 27.4% of the total population. The following summary includes the results through the examination of the six hypotheses. Table 1 shows the means and standard deviations of standardized scale scores used in each statistical analysis. (See Table 1 on page 47) Figure 1. Visual representation of five course-sequence options in the research district.