| Secondary school instruction is in a state of crisis; across the United States, over one-third of high school students drop out prior to their senior year and another one-third graduate without the skills needed to succeed in the workplace or in post-secondary school. In school districts serving high minority student populations, the numbers are even more appalling: the high school graduation rate is less than fifty percent. Clearly these figures are linked with socioeconomic status and ethnicity. The negative economic and social consequences of these dismal educational indicators, both nationally and globally, warrant a focused search for and examination of the underlying causes.; Educational researchers, scholars and practitioners have identified the vital need for critical thinking skills in both high school success and life beyond secondary school; it is also evident that a content-driven high school curriculum often fails to provide instruction in specific thinking strategies. The primary goal of this dissertation was to develop and implement a program of instruction in explicit, transferable critical thinking skills at a low-performing school serving a disadvantaged population of high school students using a free, Web-based program. Corollary to this aim was to determine the efficacy of explicit vs. imbedded instruction. Because specific measurement of critical thinking among adolescents has not been well reported in the literature, a key issue was the metric used, The Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment Using Everyday Situations was selected as it requires both constructed responses as well as objective choice selection.; The group that participated in the explicit instructional format had significantly greater positive gains on the posttest of critical thinking. Secondary to the main thesis was the consideration of covariate data, including high-stakes test scores (both achievement tests and the California High School Exit Exam), GPA, English, Math and Science course levels, disposition and basic cognitive skills. Important relationships were identified between those variables and critical thinking. Gender was found to have significant correlations with verbal and spatial abilities, providing further evidence that all instruction should be designed to both build and bridge learning propensities. |
