Browsing by Subject "Early College High Schools"
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Item "It's Like Giving Us a Car, Only Without the Wheels": Performance of Latina Students at an Early College High School(2012-02-14) Locke, Leslie AnnThis dissertation presents the results from an empirical study of the perspectives of Latina students who were underperforming in an early college high school (ECHS), regarding their academic performance and school experiences. These students' perceptions were used to assess the viability of the ECHS as a policy intervention to prepare first generation and students of color for college. Qualitative methods were employed specifically interviews, prolonged engagement, document analysis, observations and student journals. Freedoms to achieve, unfreedoms, and deformed choices were used as the conceptual frameworks guiding the analyses of the study. Analyses revealed a school which promoted meritocratic notions of achievement, despite social justice foundations. These meritocratic ideals suggest that students are largely responsible for their academic performance and achievement. That is, the school discourse promotes a stance of a level playing field-such that opportunity to achieve is available and all students should be free and able to take advantage of these opportunities. However, interviews with the students and prolonged engagement in the setting revealed elements of the students' lives (such as outside employment and/or responsibilities) which work to derail student performance, despite individual effort. These unfreedoms often disallow students from taking advantage of freedoms, or opportunities to achieve, that the school provides. Unfreedoms may force students to make deformed choices-that is, choices they would not make if unfreedoms did not exists. Results suggest without consideration of the real lives of students and families, and without consideration of how students perceive their performance and school experiences, schools can expect little change in student outcomes. Moreover, as a social justice policy intervention, early college high schools have a greater obligation to consider students' authentic lived experience. My findings suggest the early college program was designed with good intentions, however, as a policy intervention it is not as effective as it could be. The program comes from the perspective that opportunities (or freedoms) to achieve-which the school provides-are accessible to all students. Unfortunately, this limited perspective naively ignores the constraints (or unfreedoms) students face in their lives. Unfreedoms are often unavoidable, and tend to undermine students' progress toward high academic performance. Recommendations include suggestions to increase students' authentic freedoms to achieve through policy, practice and research.Item The role of early college high school in P-16 success: a case study of students’ perceptions of Mission Early College High School effectiveness(2009-08) Valdez, Melinda Martin; Bumphus, Walter G.; Sharpe, Edwin ReeseThe short existence of Early College High Schools has not allowed for considerable research to assess their operational effectiveness. Furthermore, the effectiveness perceptions and reactions of students enrolled at these schools have not been given ample opportunity to be studied – an integral component of any school’s operation. The purpose of the study is to focus on one specific ECHS while in its third year of existence to assess its operational effectiveness from the perspective of its students. The research methodology which was selected as appropriate for the study involves the use of qualitative research coupled with the case study method. In order to assess for reliable observations, currently enrolled students were interviewed to gain knowledge of their perception of the operational effectiveness at their early college high school. Additional qualitative data was utilized with an inductive analytic approach to provide for a detailed view of the school. Data was segmented into relevant parts to help identify emergent themes. The following themes emerged from the findings: attainable success; student roles and responsibilities; personalization; support to achieve higher-level work; highly qualified teachers; and engaging parents and community. The findings suggest that student perceptions reflect an effective school environment that enables them to meet the expectations of high school graduation and completion of up to two years of college credit. Moreover, the supplemental data collected provided evidence of effective school administration and instructional practices that foster the support and engagement of students to meet their needs as early college high school students. An objective study of an early college high school may assist its administrators to ascertain whether they are meeting the needs of their students. Future research concerning this topic may be able to utilize the results and conclusions of this study to further enrich the knowledge of effective early college high schools.