A COMPARISON OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE UNDER TRADITIONAL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS AND MINIMUM COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS

JAMES ELDON FINDLEY, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

The Problem. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of two groups of Omaha Westside High School seniors on five minimum competency tests in the areas of mathematics, reading, writing, consumerism, and democratic process. The first group (class of 1976) had been required to meet traditional graduation requirements. They had never taken minimum competency tests. The second group (class of 1977) had been required to meet a combination of traditional requirements and newly established minimum competency requirements. The sample from the class of 1977 had previously passed minimum competency tests and they were retested for purposes of this study. The Procedures. A review of the literature was conducted to provide the background and rationale for this study. The population of the study included the seniors of the Omaha Westside classes of 1976 and 1977 who had taken the Differential Aptitude Test while in the ninth grade. Basic data were obtained from the test results of the five competency tests. Data were examined to determine if students required to pass minimum competency tests for graduation performed better than those who were not required to do so. Summary of Findings.. (1) No statistically significant interaction was found to exist between class year and class rank quartile. (2) A statistically significant difference was found to exist between students in the class rank quartiles in their performance on five minimum competency tests. (3) The class of 1976 performed slightly better than the class of 1977 on the reading test while the class of 1977 performed somewhat better on the democratic process test. The two classes performed essentially the same in the areas of mathematics, consumerism, and writing. (4) Ninety-eight percent of the class of 1976 and 94 percent of the class of 1977 achieved the required minimum level on the reading test. (5) Eighty-three percent of the class of 1976 and 84 percent of the class of 1977 achieved the required minimum level on the democratic process test. (6) Seventy-five percent of the class of 1976 and 78 percent of the class of 1977 achieved the required minimum level on the writing test. (7) Thirty-eight percent of both classes achieved the required minimum level on the mathematics test. (8) Only five percent of the class of 1976 and seven percent of the class of 1977 achieved the required minimum level on the consumerism test. (9) Only five students from the class of 1976 and seven students from the class of 1977 achieved the required minimum level on all five tests combined. (10) When the consumerism test was eliminated because of its suspect reliability, 32 students from each class achieved the required minimum level on the four remaining tests. (11) All of the students in the class of 1977 had achieved minimum level scores on each of the five tests and were eligible to graduate. However, when similar tests were readministered at the end of the year, from six percent to 93 percent of these students failed one or more of the tests. Conclusions. When retested, students who had previously met the established minimum competency requirements did not necessarily perform better than students who had not been required to meet these same requirements. In fact, students who had previously passed the tests, tended to regress to a lower level when retested. Furthermore, the minimum competency program did not necessarily cause more students to function at the minimum skill level required in the program.

Subject Area

Curricula|Teaching

Recommended Citation

FINDLEY, JAMES ELDON, "A COMPARISON OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE UNDER TRADITIONAL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS AND MINIMUM COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS" (1981). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8122592.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8122592

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