Date of Award
1-23-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Leadership, Ed.D.
First Advisor
Bronwyn MacFarlane
Committee Members
Daniele Jordan; Michael Wesolek
Call Number
ISBN 9798273347939
Abstract
This quantitative study investigated how Alternative Education Campuses (AECs) are associated with high school graduation rates in Texas. Two research questions guided the study: (a) whether districts' five-year extended graduation rates differ five years before versus five years after establishing an AEC, and (b) whether four-year graduation rates differ between districts that offer AECs and those that do not. District-level, TEA-reported graduation rates were analyzed for five AEC-adopting districts for Research Question 1 and for eleven districts (five with AECs, six without) for Research Question 2. Analyses included paired-samples and independent-samples t tests, with multiple linear regression to corroborate group differences. Results indicated no statistically significant difference in five-year extended graduation rates before versus after AEC establishment (two-tailed p = .085), although the post-AEC mean was higher (M = 0.9055 vs. 0.8623) and the practical magnitude was large (Cohen's d = 0.96). In contrast, districts without AECs exhibited significantly higher four-year graduation rates than AEC districts (two-tailed p =.046), a pattern corroborated by regression estimates (β = −0.0578, p = .0425). Taken together, the findings suggest that on-time completion (four-year) patterns favor non-AEC districts in this sample, whereas extended completion (five-year) shows a positive, though not statistically significant, post-AEC trend. Implications for policy and leadership include sustaining robust on-time graduation systems in comprehensive high schools while ensuring credible fifth-year pathways and accurate cohort tracking for students primarily served in alternative settings.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Gossett, Joshua Paul, "The Impact of Alternative Education Campuses of Choice on a District’s Graduation Rate" (2026). Student Theses and Dissertations. 1151.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/1151
