| This study of applied mathematics, conducted in two South Carolina high schools, was undertaken to address the research hypothesis that students enrolled in Mathematics for the Technologies I, a Tech Prep course, would have higher achievement gains than students enrolled in traditional mathematics courses. The mathematics portion of the California Achievement Test/5 was used for pre- and post-testing. The research hypothesis was not supported.; The investigation had three goals. The first goal was program evaluation for the Tech Prep applied mathematics course, taught as a stand-alone course using a commercially produced applied mathematics curriculum. A quasi-experimental research design was utilized to gather data for analysis addressing the research hypothesis. Data were analyzed using ANCOVA with an alpha level of 0.05. Findings were not statistically significant.; The second goal of the investigation was basic research using multiple regression with six independent variables 0.05 alpha level. School, race and retention variables, found to have significant P-Values, were used for further analysis. ANOVAs were used to produce two sets of line plots. This subset of data revealed trends that the applied mathematics curriculum helped black students and students who had been retained at some point in the school experience.; The third aim of the research was to use focus group research, conducted with teachers and students involved in the initiative, to explore underlying dynamics of implementation of the new Tech Prep applied mathematics curriculum. The results are summarized. |
