Description:

The purpose of this study was to examine the Grade 3 academic, social, and behavioral indicators that are associated with academic performance in Grade 6.

• The regression analysis revealed that of the Grade 3 semester one report card measures, the behavioral indicators of returning completed homework and completing classwork, and the academic indicators of reading comprehension, listening comprehension, writing process, usage/grammar/punctuation/capitalization, mathematics concepts, mathematics application/problem solving, and social studies were the significant predictors of Grade 6 marking period average (MPA) quarter 1 performance.
• Descriptive analysis revealed that one third of the students who had an MPA below 3.0 at the end of quarter 1 of Grade 6 failed at least two courses in Grade 9.

Recommendations:

Schools should monitor students' academic and behavioral indicators over time as early as Grade 3 and provide the necessary support needed for individual students who might be at academic risk.

Develop a monitoring tool so schools can identify students needing academic intervention as early as mid-year of Grade 3 to address academic performance and behavior before students enter Grade 6.

Provide training to schools on how to use the tool and how to bring in additional data that they deem appropriate.

The MCPS parent and community partnership should be engaged in the conversation of the importance of academic achievement of students in Grade 3 and its relevance to academic performance in middle and high school.

The Office of Shared Accountability should update the model as needed to ensure the prediction accuracy of the model.

File Name: Grade_3_Indicators_07_23_12.pdf (329KB PDF)