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i <br /> TESTIMONY TO ME R)NTGOI,rLRY l:0MIT.Y.SCHOOL BOARD <br /> i <br /> _._ February 199 1351 <br /> My me is Robert R. Reeber; I reside at 5606 Lora .Oats Drives. in Nort s� Bethesda. . . <br /> „and a he present time am the President of. the Suu1;Ys Grosve*tor Citizens AFSQCiatiOn, <br /> In addition to my com,iunity experience Z have a deF^.:P in engineer3rsi; and a PhD in <br /> irr•d•ustrial mineralogy, am a Fellow of the American Association for•ttee Adi na Cement <br /> of Sciences acid a Certified Professional Chemist. •Y have pthlished,app Y <br /> 25 professional papers and have one invention. . <br /> During the Past sir, months 'I hale been 'interested in the't�iontg�?mery County Sc}�c�ol <br /> System t:ew•approach' to comprehensive planning as it relates •to srhoal closures•. to <br /> support of this interest 1.have-performed a statistical analysis of how the <br /> quality of elementary school edsxcation in Montgomery County `E 4ff�ct4d.by the <br /> following. <br /> 1. Parent involvement in their childrens' schools <br /> 2. school size <br /> 3. percentage minority .psrtioipation In ;the. schools . <br /> 4. percentage of students bussed to school <br /> It seems to me that the objectives of my study are di*_^er�iy .relewanr to social issues, <br /> academic performance, and the school budget all of which are themselves. rela. teed t? <br /> wily SGh0Cyl9 are closed and which•schools should be'consid=red .for. clog, -e. . <br /> J <br /> ttE$ti02 OLOGY OF 'STUDY ( Methods of Correlation and Ree9siotY John tdi ley <br /> authors Ni. Ezekiel and •K:A.. Fox- 19.5 ) <br /> 1. Uaridnce A»alysis- Statisticians:.of:teri°•fit•regression functions to gi•out. <br /> means-and appraise-the goodness of fit of the functions using si.rnificanc e <br /> tests customary in variance analysis. These tests lead to. the same estimates <br /> of probability levels as•do the standard-error formulas applicable to <br /> regression constants: Boti'methods•'maay be regarded as based •.xpon the 32•re <br /> general theory of least-squares estimation. The methods of•,variance analysis . <br /> may be used to test the significance of she improve;::ent in fit shows= <br /> curved regression over a linear one. <br /> 2. Correlation Coefficient r i a:-measure of the relative i-,ipertance of the <br /> relation between 'two variables. When an observed relation es,PIa.ins all of the <br /> variation in the .dependent variable rq•= +1 or -1. This• is termed perfect <br /> correlation, <br /> fj RESULTS CF STtJpY <br /> PARENT INVOLVE`IENT <br /> I found.that there <br /> was a direct and• statistically significant link 1seT+te°n parent <br /> involvement- iti,elementary schools, as measured by PTA. participation, and test scores.. <br /> The higher the participation of parents in their school's PTA, the higher the test <br /> scores were for those 'schools. Statistically •speakz.ng, there is virtually Lo <br /> chance 'that this relationship exists -by chance. See Figure 1. <br /> SCHOOLS SIZE ' <br /> found that the apparent ''optimum" school size is from 200 to 350 students, The <br /> larger the schools became #'rom"that point the lower' generally. th-_ test scores we=e. <br /> Teat snores declined approximately ten percentage points 'when average sthbvl •size <br /> ancr..ease9 fro 200 students' ' o 600 students. See Figure-2 and Table 1, <br />