4- To test if the use of homogeneous versus heterogeneous group
would affect the attitude of nine grader low and medium achievers
towards science in Hamza school.
The Long Term Objectives
The long term objective of this study is to determine whether the students’
heterogeneous structure makes a difference on overall students
performance and attitude towards the school and to set out an approach to
eliminate or reduce any negative effects of this factor as well as to provide
a diverse group of students with high quality teaching. Therefore, for the
current study, the following long term objectives were determined:
1. To test if the Whole School Approach (WSA) implemented in Hamza
school would create homogeneity among the nine graders.
2. To test if the use of the WSA would improve the students’
achievement in Science among nine graders in Hamza school?
3. To test the effect of WSA on students attitudes towards school.
4. To develop a school program that aids in creating harmony among
the students.
The Significance of the Study
The Qatar Comprehensive Educational Assessments (QCEA) revealed a
discrepancy between the academic achievements of the schools in
mathematics, language arts (Arabic and English) as well as in sciences.
There are many reasons behind this variation; one of them is the school
factor or the school effects including the composition of the students’ body
structure.
Unfortunately, there are no previous studies that aim at finding the
relationship between the students’ demographically diverse structure and
their achievement and attitudes in Qatar. Moreover, neither the Qatar
comprehensive assessment implemented by the Qatari Supreme Education
Council (SEC) nor the international tests (PIZZA, TIMSS) provide us with
reference data that may help in highlighting this issue. Such tests do not
consider nationality, ethnic group, mother language or any other factors of
diversification in their reports therefore no direct evidence can be inferred.