Hello! We are calling from REL Southwest—one of the Regional Education Laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Education. We are conducting a study that looks at changes in the mathematics course requirements for high school graduation being implemented under Texas House Bill 5 (the Foundation High School Program).
The study will investigate whether providing the parents of students entering grade 9 during the 2014-15 school year with information about the changes to the mathematics course requirements (as well as providing a comparison of the admissions requirements for most four-year, public universities and colleges in Texas) has an impact on students’ mathematics course enrollment in high school. Specifically, the study will look at differences in the algebra II enrollment and completion between students whose parents received this information and those students whose parents receive informational materials alerting them to changes in the Texas high school graduation requirements and providing them with information on how to access additional resources describing these changes included on several state and regional websites.
We are looking for high schools that are not requiring incoming grade 9 students to complete the Distinguished Level of Achievement (i.e., requiring students to complete Algebra II) and that are willing to mail informational materials describing the changes to the high school graduation mathematics requirements to parents of students entering grade 9 during the 2014-15 school year. Materials will be distributed during the early spring of 2016.
The study will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial. At the beginning of the study, one-half of the participating high schools will be randomly assigned to receive information describing changes to the Texas high school graduation requirements, with a specific emphasis on changes to the mathematics requirements and how these changes may impact college access (treatment), while the other half of the participating schools (control group) will provide parents/guardians with information describing changes to the Texas graduation requirements and providing parents with links to additional resources describing these changes included on state and regional websites. Schools will be asked to distribute these materials during the spring of 2016. High schools in the control schools will receive the materials provided to treatment schools at the conclusion of the study, if desired.
The study materials will consist of information brochures—provided in English and Spanish—to be mailed to students’ homes. Schools will receive a box of prepaid, pre-stuffed envelopes containing the informational brochures, and they will be asked to print and adhere mailing labels containing student addresses to the envelopes and place them in the U.S. Mail. REL Southwest will reimburse schools up to $150 to cover the cost of staff time and address label printing materials. Schools will not be asked to provide any student data to REL Southwest.
Participating schools will receive informational brochures in spring 2016 or at the conclusion of the study describing the new mathematics requirements being implemented under the new Foundation High School Program graduation plans and how they compare to the admissions requirements for most four-year, public universities and colleges in Texas. Schools will be asked to distribute these materials to parents via mail. The brochures will be available in English and Spanish. These brochures are designed to help students in your schools make informed choices about the mathematics courses they complete.
Participation in this study is voluntary. Are you interested in having your school participate in the study?
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Ginger Stoker |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-25 |