Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project, Houston, TX

LEE H.S. (COMPARISON GROUP) – PRE- AND POST-TEST RESULTS
Item/Question* Scale Pre-Test
Mean
If your primary language is not
English, how comfortable are
you using English to speak with
administrators and teachers at
your school?*
1 = very comfortable
4 = very uncomfortable
Post-Test
Mean
Description of Results
1.58 2.08 Students feel less comfortable
speaking English with school
personnel.
How many friends do you have
at this school?*
How often have you thought of
dropping out?
When I first walked into my
school, I thought it was ugly.*
How important do you think an
education is?*
Most of my teachers are always
telling me what to do.*
When I am in class, I just
pretend that I am working.
If I don’t know what a word
means when I am reading, I do
something to figure it out, like
look it up in the dictionary or ask
someone.*
I skip (cut) classes during
school.
I get good grades in school.
I skip (cut) the entire school
day.*
How likely is it that you will
graduate from a two-year college
program after high school?
I’d like to get out of my
neighborhood.
1 = 0 friends
2 = 1-5 friends
3 = 6-10 friends
4 = more than 10 friends
0 = never
2 = a lot
1 = ugly
7 = beautiful
1 = very important
5 = not at all important
1 = strongly agree
4 = strongly disagree
1 = always
5 = never
1 = always
5 = never
1 = always
5 = never
1 = always
5 = never
1 = always
5 = never
1 = definitely won’t
5 = definitely will
1 = strongly agree
4 = strongly disagree
3.75 3.56 Number of friends decreases.
.31 .63 Students think of dropping out
more often.
2.44 4.11 Students perceive school as
less ugly.
1.25 1.06 Students perceive education as
more important
2.25 1.94 Students perceive teachers as
telling them what to do less.
4.06 3.25 Students just pretend they are
working more often.
2.13 2.75 Students try to figure out what
words mean less often.
4.56 3.88 Students skip classes more
often.
2.80 2.33 Students perceive that they get
good grades more often.
4.75 4.38 Students skip the whole school
day more often.
2.56 3.19 Students believe they are more
likely to graduate from 2-year
college program
2.38 3.00 Students want to get out of
neighborhood less.
*For asterisked items, p < .10; for all other items, p < .05
Evaluation of the Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project 53