Date of Award

1971

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. Edward F. Overton

Abstract

THE PROBLEM AND OBJECTIVES

Counselors and teachers have long wanted a system to predict a student's probable level of achievement in the next higher course. This has been especially true in the academic areas such as English and mathematics. To do so involves many factors and the attempt has not yet proven successful.

THE PROBLEM

After three years of teaching both Algebra II and Trigonometry, and Fused Geometry, the author has become aware of the need for predicting a student's probable level of achievement in the next higher mathematics course. This is particularly true when colleges may be more selective in admitting their students, when more students want to go to college, or are pushed into college by their parents. High school mathematics teachers are being asked to cover more content material in the same number of allotted days. This means that more material is being concentrated in a class period. Because of this and crowded classrooms, less time is available for individual instructions The capable student (A or B average grade) understands the material. In the author's opinion, an average student (C average grade) will understand about half of the material, but the below average student (D or F average grade) is lost. Therefore he becomes easily discouraged and quits producing to his capacity. What is needed is an adequate way of grouping students according to their ability.

Several schools do this, but is their method of grouping satisfactory? Most grouping is based on grades in the previous class. This may be adequate for such subjects as English, foreign language, business, and history, but the author does not believe that it is satisfactory for mathematics because of the course sequence.

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