Working on my Master's Thesis

Trying to help our youth understand the value of their education when they are mostly fighting an uphill battle in innercity schools is one hard thing to do. As I am completing my Master's in Education, I decided to concentrate my thesis on a very disturbing topic, "The retention and graduation rate of Hispanic and African American Male Students located in the Springfield, MA and Holyoke Public Schools."

The purpose of my thesis is to study four public high schools, two located in Springfield, MA and two located in Holyoke, MA that are experiencing similar problems with retention in their educational system. I will try to compare some of the intervention programs that are implemented to help increase the retention of 16 year old African American and Hispanic male students. After researching neighboring cities, the schools that I will be gathering data from are Springfield Central and Commerce High School, located in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Dean Tech and Holyoke High School, located in Holyoke, Massachusetts. I plan to gather information from these high schools and from the programs that they have been implemented that address the retention for this particular group of students.

Data below will show that the four schools have either experienced an increase or either a decrease in their graduation rates in 2007 – 2008. Below are the results from the previous school year:

SPRINGFIELD, MA
Central High School 78.2% Graduation Rate 3.4% Increase since 2007
Commerce High School 43.5% Graduation Rate 6.6% Decrease since 2007

HOLYOKE, MA
Holyoke High School 64.0% Graduation Rate 4.5% Increase since 2007
Dean Technical High 32.7% Graduation Rate 13.4% Decrease since 2007

I will try to prove that the focus should be placed on the existing programs that have helped with increasing the retention in the high school that have shown improvement in these two cities.

The types of data that collected will be:

The percentage of dropouts over the past three years at each public high school,

The average of dropouts for African American and Hispanic male students in each grade level, 9th – 12th at each public high school,

The percentage of 16 year old African American and Hispanic male students dropping out compared to other races,

What programs are offered in these two cities that address these at risk students,

The number of students who participate in the existing programs,

The number of 16 year old African American and Hispanic males that participate in these programs,

The retention of the students in these programs through the year,

The amount of students who reach graduation because of these programs and,

Speak to drop outs and get the reasons why they students drop out of school

I will also conduct interviews with the principals’ at these public high schools, along with several counselors, and students. The information gathered will help me and others to understand the effectiveness and or the ineffectiveness of the programs that are targeting 16 year old African American and Hispanic male students.