Evaluating Mathematics Achievement of Middle School Students in a Looping Environment

Abstract

Looping, a school structure where students remain with one group of teachers for two or more school years, is used by middle schools to meet the diverse needs of young adolescents. However, little research exists on how looping effects the academic performance of students. This study was designed to determine if looping influenced middle school students' mathematical academic achievement. Student scores on the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT) were compared between sixth and eighth grade years for 69 students who looped during the seventh and eighth grades with a group of 137 students who did not loop. Looping students achieved statistically significantly greater growth on the MCT than their nonlooping counterparts between sixth and eighth grades. Further, the data were disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Findings indicate that looping may academically reengage students during the middle school years. Advantages and disadvantages of looping at the middle grades are discussed.

A Collaborative Approach: Assessing the Impact of Multi-Grade Classrooms

“…To continue the trajectory toward providing a high level of effective instruction to all students, the Saint George teachers recognize the need for more professional development to expand their repertoire of teaching strategies as well as to develop better systems for monitoring student achievement (Franz, Thompson, Fuller, Hare, Miller & Walker, 2010;Kappler & Roelike, 2002, Ong, Allison, & Haladyna, 2000. As mentioned, when the school shifted to the multi-grade model, the teachers received limited professional development in how to differentiate instruction in the mixed-aged classroom.…”

“…The specific grade combinations in five classrooms are as follows: (1) kindergarten; (2) grades 1 and 2; (3) 3 and 4; (4) 5 and 6; and, (5) 7 and 8. Each combined class has one instructor only, and the students stay with the same teacher for two years, reaping many of the benefits of looping, a school structure where children remain with the same teacher for two or more years (Franz, Thompson, Fuller, Hare, Miller, & Walker, 2010). This arrangement is in contrast to the previous school structure where there were single-graded classes with an individual instructor.…”

Predictores y efectos de la repetición de curso

“…Our results may be of interest for countries where the use of grade repetition is widespread, such as Belgium, Portugal or the Netherlands, and stresses the need to consider alternative policies, as social promotion does not seem to be an effective alternative (Darling-Hammond, 1998). Examples of alternative policies for enhancing the academic achievement of low-performing students are improving teacher practices, such as introducing looping and multi-age grouping (Leuven and Ronning, 2016;Franz et al, 2010); increasing instructional time at school (Slavin et al, 2011;Ritter et al, 2009), out of school (Jacob and Legfren, 2004) or during summer breaks (Borman and Dowling, 2006) for low-performers through individual or group tutoring methods; or making curriculums and educational systems more flexible, removing dead ends and allowing low-performers to have additional time for catching-up with their peers. As it may be seen, the implementation of most of the previous policies requires teachers to identify early students at risk (Allensworth and Easton, 2007;Balfanz et al, 2009).…”

Familiar Faces in High School: How Having the Same Peers from Year-to-Year Links to Student Absenteeism

“…Interestingly, in a study of 206 looped Mississippi middle school students in 2008-2009, Franz et al (2010 noted significant improvement in math scores for females but none for males. Gregory (2009) also found a positive association between looping and students' social outcomes like selfreported loyalty, belonging, and self-confidence, but no discernable reduction in discipline referrals.…”