Abstract
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative dissertation in practice was to explore the academic
achievement of students of low socioeconomic status attending the District of Columbia’s
traditional and selective public high schools, as measured by the annual Partnership for
Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) standardized test scores. The
aim of the research was to utilize the standardized test data to create evidence-based
recommendations for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) leadership on
whether selective public high schools had a positive impact on the standardized English
language arts and math test scores of students of low socioeconomic status. The
population studied consisted of students from the school years 2014–2018. The
quantitative study utilized Pearson’s chi-square test with Cramer’s V to explore the
relationship between the proficiency on standardized English language arts and math tests
and enrollment of low-socioeconomic status students in traditional and selective public
high school. Significant differences were found in the students’ English language arts and
math proficiency levels; specifically, selective schools had significantly higher
percentages of English language arts and math proficient students than did traditional
schools. The cause of low-socioeconomic status students in selective schools
outperforming the students in traditional schools could be due to other factors in the
students’ learning environments. The District of Columbia education system should
consider establishing a peer-to-peer tutoring program between traditional and selective
high schools to enhance low-socioeconomic status student achievement on standardized
tests.
Keywords: Achievement gap, selective schools, traditional schools, socioeconomic status