DIFFERENCES IN NINTH-GRADE STUDENT PERFORMANCE BETWEEN SMALL LEARNING COMMUNITIES AND TRADITIONAL

The purpose of this causal-comparative research study was to determine the extent to which ninth-grade student performances are impacted by the small learning community model. The urban high school of interest performed higher than the district in all accountability areas, and was comparable to the state in all areas except ninth-grade on track performance. Transforming this urban school district into small learning conmiunities was planned in order to address the needs of students with the ultimate goal of increasing the graduation rate and lowering the dropout rate. The urban school district being investigated in this study began the SLC transformation process with one school. That high school went from a comprehensive high school traditional model with a magnet program to the SLC model with four different academies. This one comprehensive school is phasing the SLC academies in by grade level. This affords the school the ability to make adjustments as the model is phased in during 4 years. 1 The SLC model and traditional model of high school and the impact of the school model on ninth-grade student performance measures. It was proposed that the followin