The effectiveness of remediation for students who failed Alabama's High School Basic Skills Exit Exa

After Alabama mandated that students pass a high-stakes exam in order to graduate from high school, many students were at risk of failure. This study looked at the efficacy of remediation for students who had previously failed at least one portion of the test. Of additional interest was whether remediation could overcome biases for minority or socioeconomic status and gender.;Participants, 280 eleventh- and twelfth-grade students from Decatur High School, Decatur, AL, included 139 volunteers for the treatment and 141 in the control group. Data collection consisted of gender, race, and socioeconomic status, and previous scores on the exam between 1994--1999. Pace Competency Cabinets were selected as the instrument primarily because of its congruency with the competencies on the Exit Exam.;A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group design was used to examine the dependent variables of reading, math, and language. Because pretest means were not equivalent Analysis of Covariance was used to evaluate gain scores following remediation. Chi-square and Fisher's exact test was used to determine significance of pass/fail rates. With an alpha level of p < .05, results indicate that racial and low socioeconomic bias was overcome. Gender was not found to be predictive of success or failure following remediation.;Remediation was found to be an effective strategy for students from substandard academic backgrounds. In every category, students who participated in the treatment increased their gain scores and passed the Exit Exam in far greater numbers than did the control group. Additional educational opportunities that include remediation should be made available for those students most at risk of failure.