Reading averages for school samples serving K-2 Essay

The sample in Table 1 was uncharacteristic of the all three samples. Grade two MCT reading results for the 2005 school year demonstrated lower reading averages in school one which had a lower percentage of impoverished and non-white students. This was not the case in sample two and three. In order to validate these results, the 2005 reading scores were compared to those of 2004 and 2003. As demonstrated in Table 1, school two has consistently scored lower than school one; however, the reading averages for both schools only vary approximately five percent between the years of 2003 and 2005. This is not enough of a variance to determine if ethnic background is a major indication of the difference between reading proficiencies. The researcher also considered class size (FTE) as a factor in the levels of reading achievement. The amount of students per teacher (FTE) however did not appear to have any influence on the reading proficiency levels of schools one and two since the FTE percentage was the same. Table 1 Sample One: Reading Averages for K-2 Schools (Grade 2) ______________________________________________________________________ Reading Impoverished Ethnicity Three Year FTE Average Students (SES) nonwhite Average ______________________________________________________________________ School 1 93 80 54 ~94 15 School 2 92 74 52 ~89 15 ______________________________________________________________________ Note. The state second grade reading average for Mississippi in 2005 was eighty-eight percent. Appendix B Reading Averages for School Samples Serving K-3 Second grade MCT reading averages for the two sample schools differed greatly for the 2005 school year. School 1A demonstrated a much lower second grade reading proficiency, as well as a higher SES. In contrast, school 2A had a low SES percentage and higher test results. The percentage of non-white students was close between the two schools, the highest however was found in school 2A. The FTE in schools one and two differed slightly with school 2A having an average of seventeen students per teacher versus fifteen students per teacher in school 1A. In order to validate the MCT results, the 2005 reading scores were compared to those of 2004 and 2003. The three year average of second grade MCT scores demonstrates that school 2A has consistently had higher test scores than school 1A. This sample demonstrates that the only probable influence on the MCT scores, and reading proficiency in general would be the SES percentage. Table 2 Sample Two: Reading Averages for K-3 Schools Grades 2 & 3 ______________________________________________________________________ Reading Impoverished Ethnicity Three Year FTE Average Students (SES) nonwhite Average ______________________________________________________________________ 2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd _____________ ____________ School 1A 79 75 94 51 80 ~75 15 School 2A 92 98 73 54 ~96 ~95 17 ______________________________________________________________________ Note. The state second grade reading average for Mississippi in 2005 was eighty-eight percent. The third grade reading average for Mississippi was eighty-four percent. Appendix C Reading Averages for School Samples Serving K-5 The following table demonstrates the reading proficiency in the school samples serving kindergarten through fifth grade. The initial sample had results which were very similar and therefore were difficult to compare, thus the researcher investigated the MCT results of another school. As the reader can see from Table 3, there is a drastic difference between schools 1B and 2B and schools 3B and 4B. The percentage of nonwhite students is similar between all four schools, indicating that ethnicity was not a crucial factor in the results of the MCTs. A major indicator of the differences in MCT scores was the SES percentage. In particular, the schools with the highest SES, the higher percentage of impoverished students, performed drastically lower than the schools with a lower SES. This has been a consistent trend over the past three years in all the schools in the sample. The FTE was seventeen for all except one of the four schools. This could indicate that the higher students-per-teacher ratio did not have an influence on the MCT reading results. Table 3 Reading Averages for K-5 Schools Grades 2 & 3. Reading Impoverished Ethnicity Three Year FTE Average Students (SES) nonwhite Average ______________________________________________________________________ 2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd _____________ ____________ School 1B 91 95 53 54 ~91 97 17 School 2B 93 96 57 53 95 97 17 School 3B 67 77 99 52 ~70 81 15 School 4B 69 77 91 53 ~69 ~72 17 ______________________________________________________________________ Note. The state second grade reading average for Mississippi in 2005 was eighty-eight percent. The third grade reading average for Mississippi was eighty-four percent.