A Study to Determine the Growth in Moral Development of Students Participating in Dexfield High School's 1979-80 Fall Peer Helper Program

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not Dexfield students participating in the peer helper course of instruction experienced moral development growth as measured by Rest's Defining Issues Test. Students in the peer helper class were matched to a control group from Dexfield High School according to: age, grade in school, IQ, cumulative grade point average, and sex. The peer helper class and the control group were administered the Defining Issues Test (all six stories) during the first ten school days in the fall of 1979 and again within ten school days of the completion of the one semester course of study. A t-test of P scores obtained from the Defining Issues Test showed that the peer class did not experience greater growth in moral development (at the .05 level of significance) than the control group.