Volume 3 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal for K-12 Educational Research - Page 33

Journal of K-12 Educational Research 31 in the summer accelerated program, students entered Grade 9 and took TELPAS again during the freshman year. Comparison of the TELPAS scores were analyzed to determine improvements in student scores compared with students who did not participate in the summer program. The second area of analysis consisted of TELPAS reading score comparisons from Grade 9 to Grade 10. The third area of study examined STAAR EOC performance from Grade 9 to Grade 10 for students who participated in a summer accelerated program. Additional analysis was conducted related to the relationship in English Learner participation in a summer accelerated program and the number of years the learner had been in U.S. schools and in the TELPAS Rating of the learners. Setting, Target Population, and Sample The setting for the current study was a large, suburban district (the District) located in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. The District educated 53,270 students at the time of the current study, according to the Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) for 2014-15, published by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The District student population was racially diverse, comprised of 46.2% White, 27.9% Hispanic, 12.3% Asians, and 9.8% African American students. The Hispanic and Asian students, the two groups who made up the majority of the District English Learner population, represented a total of 21,414 of the 53,270 students in the District. The participants in the current study were English Learners in the District. Students were chosen based on designation as Limited English Proficient (LEP) students in the District. Research Questions There were three original research questions to the study, and two additional research questions upon examination of the original data. The research questions were as follows: Research Question 1 (RQ1) Do English Learner students who participate in a summer accelerated program between Grades 8 and 9 show higher scores on the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System Reading assessment than students who do not participate in the program? Research Question 2 (RQ2) Do English Learner students who participate in a summer accelerated program between Grades 9 to 10 show higher scores on the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System Reading assessment than students who do not participate in the program? Research Question 3 (RQ3) Do English Learner students who participate in a summer accelerated program between Grades 9 and 10 have higher State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness End-of-Course English II scores than students who do not participate in the summer program? Research Question 4 (RQ4) Is there a relationship between the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System Reading rating of English Learners and the participation of English Learners in a summer accelerated program? Research Question 5 (RQ5) Is there a relationship between the number of years English Learners have been in U.S. schools and participation in an accelerated summer program? Summary of Findings For the first research question, a stepwise multiple regression procedure was conducted. According to Yockey (2011), in any multiple regression, “a regression equation is created, and the regression weight for each predictor (known as the beta weight) is tested to see whether it is significantly different from zero” (p. 177). By comparing the beta weights among the various regressions conducted, the researcher was able to determine if the difference between the equations was significant. If the difference in the beta weights is significant, the variable of interest added in a subsequent regression equation would be considered as a predictor explaining the change. For the current study, the stepwise multiple regression was conducted with the 2017 TELPAS Reading score as the dependent variable of interest. The predictor variables for the first regression were the 2016 TELPAS Reading scale score, 2016 TELPAS Reading rating, and the number of years in U.S. schools. Missing from the first regression step was the program participation. After the first regression was conducted, the second regression included all of the mentioned variables, but it also added participation in the summer program as an additional independent, or predictor, variable.