Wright, Tressa D.
Abstract:
The setting for this study was a Midwest suburban school district (District A)outside of Kansas City. The population was the seventh and eighth grade students inDistrict A. The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference exists inmathematical growth, as measured by a difference in scale score on the mathematicsportion of the Missouri Assessment Program among students who enrolled in Math Labzero, one, two, three, or four semesters. The second purpose of this study was todetermine if the difference in mathematical growth, as measured by the change in scalescore, was affected by ethnicity. Additionally, the purpose was to determine if thedifference in mathematical growth was affected gender. The dependant variable in thisquasi-experimental quantitative study was mathematical growth as measured by thedifference in scale score from sixth to eighth grade. The independent variables in thestudy were number of semesters enrolled in Math Lab, gender, and ethnicity.The test conducted for the first research question revealed the main effect forenrollment was significant, indicating that students enrolled in Math Lab three semestershad significantly more growth than students enrolled one semester. The test conductedfor the second research question revealed the interaction effect for enrollment byethnicity was not significant, indicating that ethnicity does not affect the mathematicalgrowth among students enrolled in Math Lab zero, one, two, three, or four semesters.The third research question considered the interaction effect for enrollment by gender.The results of the analysis of the interaction for enrollment by gender was not significant,demonstrating that gender does not affect the mathematical growth among studentsenrolled in Math Lab zero, one, two, three, or four semesters. Recommendations for further research include replicating the study and add aqualitative component to create a mixed methods research design. The secondrecommendation is to replicate the study using additional dependent variables such asgrade point average (GPA), mathematics course grade, or high school end of courseassessments. The third recommendation is to replicate the study at the high school levelin District A. A fourth recommendation is to conduct the study using a longitudinaldesign.