Assignment #1:
Cognitive Retention
by
Sheronda Lee
EDU 708 CRN 22183
Research Design in Education
Nova Southeastern University
September 1, 2024 Comment by Mary Kolesinski: Please note changes on Cover Sheet for future submissions
Cognitive Retention in Rural Elementary Education
Context
The study is set in a rural community, which will be called “Greendale” throughout this paper. Greendale is a rural community and is comprised of 98.5% African American students enrolled in the school. The other student characteristics include 1% Hispanic students and 0.5% multiracial. The gender distribution coefficient is moderate: 48% of students are females; 52% of students are males. Economically, Greendale has lots of challenges facing it as 100% of students are recognized by the government as being economically disadvantaged. There are 252 students in total, who are eligible to apply for free lunch due to the economic difficulties of the community. Comment by Mary Kolesinski: What is the source for your community statistics? You need to include a text and reference citation
Community and School Demographics
As seen in Greendale’s demographics, the school population consists of a large percentage of African American students accompanied by a limited number of Hispanic and multiracial students. One can see the community’s poverty by the fact that all students that attend this learning institution are on free or reduced lunch. Greendale Elementary aligns with this demographic by having a majority of economically disadvantaged students reflecting a population of homogenous ethnicity. This state of economic marginalization points towards the possibility of issues in educational material and assistance that could lead to learning gaps among students.
Topic: Cognitive Retention and Learning Loss
The suggested topic for this work is called “Cognitive Retention,” which is also known as learning loss, that is, the forgetting of the learned material, which occurs over time, including during the summer period. Cognitive retention is important because it allows educators to know how students continue to comprehend knowledge and its utility at later stages and which factors affect it (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017). Since Greendale is a community characterized by low income, it is crucial to analyze the possibility of using cognitive retention assessments to explain how learning loss affects students from different socioeconomic levels.
Topic Rationale and Supporting Data
Focusing on the area of cognitive retention corresponds to the goals of the school improvement plan for Greendale Elementary because this school is focused on decreasing the gap in educational achievement and paying more attention to the needs of all students. The emphasis on cognitive retention is consistent with goals held by the school district and the state educational agency, including efforts to eliminate achievement gaps and retain economically disadvantaged learners. The argument for choosing this topic is further supported by evidence that in the context of learning inequalities, students coming from low- income levels are more affected in terms of learning losses especially over the long summer holidays or any other long gaps without learning (Chew & Cerbin, 2021).
|
Demographic |
Percentage |
|
African American |
98.5% |
|
Hispanic |
1% |
|
Multiracial |
0.5% |
|
Economically Disadvantaged |
100% |
|
Female |
48% |
|
Male |
52% |
Research Ethics
Conclusion
In conclusion, assessment of cognitive retention and learning loss within Greendale Elementary presents an important chance to consider equal education in a rural and economically deprived community. Therefore, by linking the study to the school and district objectives and practicing strict ethical considerations, the study seeks to present significant information regarding the ways and means of enhancing cognitive retention among the at-risk population of learners.
References
Chew, S. L., & Cerbin, W. J. (2021). The cognitive challenges of effective teaching.
The Journal of Economic Education,
52(1), 17-40.
Lochmiller, C. R., & Lester, J. N. (2017).
An introduction to educational research: Connecting methods to practice. SAGE Publications.
