THE EFFECTS OF THE WEB TRANSITION PROGRAM ON MIDDLESCHOOL STUDENT GPA, ATTENDANCE, AND SUSPENSIONS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare achievement, attendance, andsuspensions of Olathe, Kansas seventh grade students who participated in the WhereEverybody Belongs (WEB) program with seventh grade students who did not participatein the WEB program as they made the transition from an elementary school setting to ajunior high setting.During the 2008 – 2009 school year, four Olathe, Kansas junior high schoolsimplemented the WEB transition program and four schools did not implement the WEBprogram as students transitioned from an elementary school setting to a junior highschool setting.For this study, the researcher collected archived quantitative data coveringcumulative student grade point averages, student daily attendance, and studentsuspensions from the Olathe School Database system known as the AS400. Descriptivestatistics, two-tailed independent samples t-tests (at the 0.05 level of significance), andANOVAs were conducted. The results of the study indicate WEB participants earned asignificantly higher GPA compared to students who were not exposed to the WEBprogram. There was no significant difference in attendance or suspensions between thetwo groups of students. ANOVA results also revealed no effect of gender, minority,SES, SPED, or ELL status on the difference in GPA, attendance, or suspensions betweenthe two groups.