RQ: Is there a relationship between student perceptions of the freshman academy Null Hypotheses
Ho1: There is no statistically significant correlation between student perceptions of the freshman academy environment as measured by questions 1-15 of the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) and students’ grade point averages at the end of the ninth grade year.
Ho2: There is no statistically significant correlation between student perceptions of the freshman academy environment as measured by questions 1-15 of the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) and students’ perceived socio-emotional adjustment at the end of the ninth grade year as measured by questions 1-10 of the “People in my School” section of the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASSS).
Ho3: There is no statistically significant correlation between student perceptions of the freshman academy environment as measured by questions 1-15 of the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) and students’ perceived school confidence at the end of the ninth grade year as measured by questions 44-48 and 58-62 the Student Self-Concept Scale (SSCS).
Descriptive Statistics
The predictor variable in this study was student perceptions of the school environment within a freshman academy, as measured by scores on the CSCI. Table 1 displays the mean and standard deviation obtained for this variable. The criterion variables in this study were end-of- year grade point average, perceived socio-emotional adjustment, and school confidence. Table 2 displays the mean and standard deviation for each of these variables.
Table 1
Descriptive Statistics for Predictor Variable (N = 151)
Variable M SD Low High
CSCI – Perceptions of Freshman
Academy Environment 52.67 9.46 15.00 77.00
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics for Criterion Variables (N = 151)
Variable M SD Low High
GPA
2.52 0.90 0.00 4.00
CASSS – Perceived Socio-emotional
Adjustment 39.07 10.29 16.00 60.00
SSCS – Perceived School Confidence
17.25 2.58 7.00 20.00
Results
Effect sizes for this study were measured using Spearman’s rho. After obtaining the GPA, CASS, and SSCS scores, a Spearman’s rho correlation was calculated between each of the aforementioned scores and the CSCI scores. The researcher determined that a Spearman’s rho correlation, a nonparametric rank correlation coefficient that measures the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables, was the appropriate analysis for each of the three correlations, not a Pearson’s Product Moment Coefficient, because there was not a normal distribution of the ordinal data. This distribution was confirmed by visual inspection of the histograms for each variable. This decision was supported by Bishara and Hittner’s (2012) study (2012) which found that Spearman’s r is “more powerful for mixed-normal and non-normal
distributions” (p. 8). Likewise, Spearman’s correlation is not very sensitive to outliers, so it is safe to utilize this type of analysis when there are outliers in the data.
Null Hypothesis One
A Spearmans’ rho was used to analyze the first hypothesis, which stated that there is no statistically significant correlation between students’ perceptions of the freshman academy environment and students’ grade point averages at the end of the ninth grade year. Cumulative GPA at the end of the ninth grade year was collected from archival school data. The results of the Spearman’s rho revealed that there is no statistically significant correlation between student perceptions of the freshman academy environment and students’ grade point averages (rs = -.014, N = 151, p = .87). Less than one percent of the variance (𝑟𝑝2 = .0002) of student GPAs is
explained by perceptions of the freshman academy environment. Therefore, students’
perceptions of the freshman academy environment did not correlate with GPA for ninth grade students. Thus, the researcher failed to reject the first null hypothesis.
Null Hypothesis Two
A Spearman’s rho was also conducted in order to analyze the second null hypothesis, which stated that there was no statistically significant correlation between student perceptions of the freshman academy environment and students’ perceived socio-emotional adjustment at the end of the ninth grade year. The results from this analysis revealed that there was indeed a moderate positive correlation between student perceptions of the freshman academy environment and students’ perceived socio-emotional adjustment at the end of the ninth grade year (rs = .37, N = 151, p < .001). Students who reported higher scores on the CSCI in terms of the school
environment also reported higher scores on the CASSS in terms of socio-emotional adjustment. In checking for the explained variance, 𝑟𝑝2 = .137, which means that 14% of the variance in
perceived socio-emotional adjustment is explained by student perceptions of the freshman academy environment. Since the moderate correlation was statistically significant, the researcher was able to reject null hypothesis two.
Null Hypothesis Three
Finally, a Spearman’s rho was used to determine whether or not there is a statistically significant correlation between student perceptions of the freshman academy environment and students’ perceived school confidence at the end of the ninth grade year. The results revealed that there is also actually a moderate positive correlation between student perceptions of the freshman academy environment and students’ perceived school confidence at the end of the ninth grade year (rs = .34, N = 151 p < .001). The proportion of variance, 𝑟𝑝2 = .1156, reveals
that 12% of the variance in perceived school confidence is explained by perceptions of the freshman academy environment. Therefore, this analysis supports the notion that a positive perception of the freshman academy environment was related to higher levels of school
confidence among ninth grade students. Based on these findings, the researcher was also able to reject null hypothesis three.
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS