Culture factor differences between Missouri's high poverty gold star and high poverty non-gold star schools as determined by the Missouri advanced questionaire

This study sought to identify if differences existed in the responses collected from Missouri's Advanced Questionnaire survey between high achieving and low-achieving schools across Missouri. Both groups of schools were identified as schools with greater than 50% of students on free or reduced lunch. In total, survey responses were collected from 1,645 faculty members between 2007-2012. A t-test analysis was conducted to determine if there were significant differences in the responses collected from the 2 groups of schools. Conclusions indicate the instrument was reliable and valid. The study revealed location characteristics with high poverty Gold Star Schools. Further, Survey response analysis yielded 3 of 4 components of culture that correlate with student achievement levels in high poverty schools across Missouri.