Volume 14, Number 1 ISSN 1099-839X Academic Achievement for Fifth-Grade Students in Elementary and Intermediate School Settings: Grade Span Configurations Julie P. Combs David Clark George W. Moore Anthony K. Onwuegbuzie Stacy L. Edmonson John R. Slate Sam Houston State University Citation Combs, J. P., Clark, D., Moore, G. W., Onwuegbuzie, A. K., Edmonson, S. L., & Slate, J. R. (2011). Academic Achievement for Fifth-Grade Students in Elementary and Intermediate School Settings: Grade Span Configurations. Current Issues in Education, 14(1). Retrieved from http://cie.asu.edu/ Abstract Few researchers have addressed student achievement outcomes as a function of grade span configurations for older elementary-aged students. Thus, this study was designed to determine differences between students’ Grade 5 reading and mathematics achievement in elementary schools (K–5) as compared to intermediate schools (Grade 5, 5–6) for 5 academic years. Using archival statewide data, researchers used a rigorous five-step distance-based formula to match elementary schools to intermediate schools on four demographic/school characteristic variables. Current Issues in Education Vol. 14 No. 1 2 Students in K-5 settings attained statistically significantly higher levels of reading and mathematics achievement than did their counterparts, with moderate mean effect sizes of 0.37 and 0.47, respectively. Keywords: achievement, grade configuration, elementary schools, grade span, middle schools, intermediate schools, school settings ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR FIFTH-GRADE STUDENTS 3 About the Author(s) Author: Julie P. Combs Affiliation: Sam Houston State University Address: Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling, Box 2119, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341-2119 Email:
[email protected] Biographical information: Julie Combs is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling at Sam Houston State University, where she teaches doctoral-level courses in writing and research methods.