The Effect of Increased Algebraic Instructional Time in a Career and Technical Hight School

Resources that strive to increase academic performance for secondary students is a noble endeavor. One such technique may prove beneficial and does not require additional resources. This resource is to increase instructional time within the classroom. The setting of this research project was at a suburban comprehensive technical high school in the lower Bucks County region of Pennsylvania and the participants were incoming 9th grade students. The purpose of this project was to analyze whether increasing algebraic instructional time would have an effect on academic performance. This project was important because it would provide a justification for the allocation of resources, should the outcome indicate a positive correlation between increased instructional time and academic performance. The research questions involved in this project were to analyze increased instructional time and academic performance as well as differentiating academic performance regarding gender and socioeconomic status. The quantitative design of the project relied on a classroom diagnostic test and a teacher-made assessment. The results from the teacher-made assessments did not demonstrate a statistically significant event for any research question. The classroom diagnostic test did reveal a statistically significant event for the initial assessment as well as the initial and mid-year test regarding socioeconomic status and academic performance. The conclusion was that there was no statistically significant difference in academic performance differentiated by gender and that increasing instructional time did not affect academic performance following an increase in instructional time on both final assessments. There was evidence that non-economically disadvantaged students scored statistically higher on the initial and mid-year classroom diagnostic test.