Some effects of racial integration of high school students on standardized achievement test scores, teacher grades, and dropout rates in Angleton, Texas

I. PROBLEM. The primary purpose of this research study was to determine the statistical significance of differences in academic achievement of Negro and white secondary school students at the end of their first year of racial integration. A secondary purpose was to assess the significance of any changes in the dropout rates during the same year. II. PROCEDURE. The subjects were 769 white and 146 Negro students in grades eight through eleven in 1965-66. All were students in three public secondary schools of Angleton, Texas. Academic achievement was measured by use of the Test of Academic Progress in May, 1966, when students in both of the high schools were racially segregated, and again in May, 1967, after one year of instruction in an integrated high school. The same students were tested at the ends of two consecutive school years; pre-test and post-test scores were compared to determine if differences post-test means of standard scores were compared to determine if differences were statistically significant after subtraction of the three standard score points gain expected of the students. Significance of differences was determined by use of Student's t-test for differences between correlated pairs of means. [...]