Polly Ulichny
Academic Achievement in Two Expeditionary Learning/Outward Bound Demonstration Schools, 2000
Polly Ulichny, Ed.D. of Brown University is an independent researcher who carried out an in-depth evaluation of the students’ academic achievement in the King Middle School in Portland, Maine and the Rafael Hernandez School in Boston, Massachusetts. Both of these schools initially began working with Expeditionary Learning in the 1993-94 academic year and have been implementing the design for the past seven years. The two main questions addressed by this evaluation were: "What is the record of academic achievement, as revealed by standardized tests and district-wide assessments, over the years of Expeditionary Learning implementation in each of the schools chosen for this study?" (p. 1) and "What has been the impact of Expeditionary Learning on the schools’ academic performance?" (p.1) In this evaluation, the test score results of King and Hernandez were not only compared to state and district standards, but also to schools within the same districts with similar student populations. The study shows that academic performance of students at both schools has improved since they began to implement Expeditionary Learning.
King Middle School: Portland, Maine
King Middle School serves about 600 students in grades 6-8. In comparison to the rest of the district, a larger percentage of King students come from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Sixty-five percent of King’s student population receives free or reduced lunch, compared to less than 40% of the district student population. Limited English Proficient (LEP) students compose 22% of King’s student population, which is 15-13% higher than the other middle schools in the district.
The primary sources of data utilized in this evaluation were score reports of the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA) and the district-wide Middle School Writing Assessment.  The MEA is a statewide standardized test administered in the fall of each year that measures student performance in seven academic disciplines and is annually administered to 4th, 8th, and 11th grades. The district-wide Writing Assessment is a district managed and mandated assessment that is administered to 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. King’s scores on both of these assessments over the past several years indicate that its students’ academic achievement has been on the rise since initial Expeditionary Learning implementation in 1993.
In the early 1990’s, King Middle School tended to score lower on the MEA when compared to state and district scores. However, in the 98-99 MEA testing King students outscored the state average in six out of seven disciplines, and on the seventh discipline it scored the same as the state. King has experienced a steady increase in test scores since Expeditionary Learning implementation in 1993-94. The following graph displays King’s increase in MEA scores in all seven academic disciplines since 1992 (the year prior to Expeditionary Learning implementation).
Compared to other middle schools in King’s district, King has experienced the most improvement in MEA test scores in four out of seven subject areas. In two subject areas, King’s improvement in scores was equal to that of the other middle schools in its district. In only one subject area, Writing, did King’s score improvement not match that of comparison district middle schools. The following graph demonstrates the comparison of King’s improvement in MEA scores to that of the other two district middle schools over the period of time between 1996 and 1998:
Although King’s MEA Writing scores did not match those of other district schools, its scores on the district-wide Writing Assessment did demonstrate improvement in this subject area in the period of time between 1996 and 1998.
The increase in King’s test scores for this assessment was comparable to that of the other district middle schools. Furthermore, the report cites that "more King students...demonstrated gains in writing assessment in recent years than in earlier years of the Writing Assessment." (p.49)
During this period of increase in academic achievement at King Middle School over the last few years, a notable change in the population of the school was taking place. Between 1993 and 1998 the number of lower income, Limited English Proficient students at the King increased from 1% to 22%.According to the report:
[Research has shown that] both LEP and low income, low parent-education populations of students systematically score lower on standardized achievement tests than middle class, native English speaking, white student. (p.2) These gains in achievement [at King] may be attributed to the rich language and content experiences that students engage in during Expeditionary Learning. It may be that this type of learning is particularly effective for students who are motivated to improve their circumstances, a common finding in studies of recent immigrant students, and who have a limited ability in English due to it being their new second language. (p.50)
Rafael Hernandez School: Boston, Massachusetts
The Rafael Hernandez School is one of the few two-way bilingual schools in its district. It is a K-8 Spanish bilingual school of about 400 students.  While half the students in the school are bilingual/LEP, only 20% of the district is composed of bilingual/LEP students. Seventy-six percent of the student population receives free or reduced lunch, indicating that Hernandez students tend to come from backgrounds of lower socio-ecomonic status.
The primary sources of data used in the evaluation of Hernandez included score reports of the Metropolitan Achievement Tests (MAT), Stanford 9 (SAT 9), and the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). The MAT is a nationally normed standardized test of Reading and Math that was administered in Boston until the 1994-95 school year, after which it was replaced with the SAT 9. Unfortunately, these two exams are not comparable, so scores for these exams were analyzed independently for the purposes of this evaluation. The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) is the newest "high stakes" standardized test in Massachusetts, and it was first administered in 1998 to 4th, 8th and 10th grades. The MCAS assesses student proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA), Math, Social Studies, and Science and Technology. As of the year 2003, students will be required to pass the Math and ELA portions of this exam in order to be promoted to the following grade, as well as to graduate from high school.
Between 1992-93 (pre-Expeditionary Learning implementation) and 1994-95 (second year of Expeditionary Learning implementation) Hernandez’s MAT scores improved noticeably. More grades at Hernandez outscored the district average after Expeditionary Learning implementation than it had before adopting Expeditionary Learning. Furthermore, after Expeditionary Learning implementation, Hernandez performed better than the national average in Reading in earlier elementary grades, and these grades also performed better than both the national and district averages in Math. In 1994-95, the final administration year of the MAT, the majority of Hernandez grades scored above or the same as the district averages on both Reading and Math, as the following graphs demonstrate:
 
This is especially notable when one considers the fact that the population of the Hernandez contains a higher percentage of bilingual/LEP students than both the district and state, and, according to the report, research has shown this population to be "statistically the lowest performing group on standardized tests." (p.4)
The SAT 9, a diagnostic test utilized to inform teaching and learning, was first administered in the 1995-96 academic year, which coincided with the third year of Expeditionary Learning implementation at Hernandez. On this exam, the Hernandez did slightly better than the district in the earlier grades in both Reading and Math. When compared to a district school with similar student population demographics, Hernandez clearly performed better than this school at all grade levels. In later years of SAT 9 administration Hernandez’s test scores were somewhat inconsistent from grade to grade. The report suggests that changes in district testing procedures during this time period could have been a factor confounding analysis of results from those years.
During this period of time, however, the Hernandez scores on the MCAS demonstrate that the students at the Hernandez were maintaining a high achievement profile. Since the MCAS is the standardized test that will now determine grade promotion of students, as well as high school graduation, the results obtained from this test are very important. In 1998 and 1999, the 4th graders of the Hernandez performed better than or as well as the district on the English Language Arts portion of the MCAS, and they performed much better than its demographically comparable district school. Also, between 1998 and 1999, Hernandez 4th graders’ improvement in the English Language Arts (ELA) portion of the MCAS was greater than both the district and its comparison school. In the Math portion of the MCAS, the Hernandez 4th graders, once again, demonstrated a great improvement in scores between 1998 and 1999, and they outscored the district and its comparison school in 1999. The following graphs demonstrate these gains:
 
In 1998, the Hernandez 8th graders outscored both the district and its comparison school in the ELA portion of the MCAS, although there was a slight decrease in scores the following year. In the Math portion of the MCAS, however, the Hernandez 8th graders show great improvement in scores between 1998 and 1999. As can be seen, the academic achievement of Hernandez’s students has not only matched or surpassed that of other schools in the district over the last several years, but it has steadily been on the rise since initial Expeditionary Learning implementation.
Download the full text of this report in PDF format
|
