Self-Perception and Satisfaction with School: Effects of Ninth-Grade Placement.

The placement of ninth-grade students has often been a decision based upon available resources and not the best interests of the students. This study provides some evidence of the different influences of three types of ninth-grade placement. Self-perception data were collected for 161 randomly selected eighth-grade students in middle school placement. These measures were administered to the same students one year later after they had been placed in three different ninth grade settings (high school, middle school, and ninth-grade only center). Results were analyzed by t-test and pre- and post-test mean difference effect sizes. High school, and to a lesser degree ninth-grade only placement, resulted in systematically higher levels of satisfaction than students who remained in a middle school setting. Neither systematic nor statistically significant differences were found in domains of self-perception by type of ninth-grade setting. Appendixes are: Student Satisfaction Survey and Self-Perception Profile. (Contains 1 figure and 16 charts.) (Author/MKA)