Florida Student Progression Policies and Their Effect on Student Achievement

This study investigated the varied district student progression policies from 9th to
lOth grade and their effect on the district-level achievement of the high schools as
measured by six categories of FCA T achievement consistent with those that comprise
district grades during the 2005-2006 academic year. In Florida, the state assessment
policy and the resulting rewards and sanctions policy, known as the Florida A+ Plan, are
uniformly defined across districts while the state student progression policy simply
provides guidelines for districts to follow. This results in varied student progression
policies in the 67 school districts within the state.
A quantitative study of the district student progression policies for promotion
from 9th to lOth grade and student achievement, as measured by the Florida
Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCA T), was conducted to determine the effect of
varied student progression policies on district FCA T achievement. Five predictor variables, based upon promotion requirements from the 9th to 1Oth grade, - number of
credits, the type of credits, the availability of midyear promotion, additional requirements
to be met for midyear promotion, and minimum grade point average - the six FCA T
based criterion variables; and, two contextual variables - district socioeconomic status
(SES) and district size were used in the study.
Linear regression analysis was used to find that the inclusion of a minimum grade
point average had a significant inverse relationship with FCA T Reading Learning Gains.
Additionally, theSES of the district was found to significantly affect the relationship
between the midyear promotion of students and FCAT Reading proficiency; the type of
credits required for promotion and FCA T Math proficiency; and the minimum number of
credits required for promotion and both FCA T Math learning gains and FCA T Reading
learning gains of the lowest quartile of students.
The second order interaction of district size on the effect of SES on the
relationship between the predictor and criterion variables yielded significant moderating
effects of district size on the moderating effect of SES for the relationships between the
minimum number of credits required for promotion and both FCA T Math proficiency and
FCA T Math learning gains.