2 MATH ANXIETY AMONG MINORITY STUDENTS IN HIGH POVERTY SCHOOLS WHO FAILED ALGEBRA NCSM St. Louis, Missouri April 2006 Presented by: Dr. Felicia Clark Math.

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MATH ANXIETY AMONG MINORITY STUDENTS IN HIGH POVERTY SCHOOLS WHO FAILED ALGEBRA

NCSMSt. Louis, Missouri

April 2006

Presented by:Dr. Felicia ClarkMath CoordinatorLAUSD – District 8

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Purpose of The Study

To gain insight into the academic needs of students who repeated algebra so that we can better meet their needs.

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Overview of Study The 98-item Math Anxiety Rating Scale for

Adolescents (MARS-A) was given to high school students who were repeating algebra

Students were in high poverty schools with populations that were 95% or higher African-American and Latino

174 participants • 90 girls• 84 boys

• 105-9th graders• 33-10th graders• 34-11th graders

• 2-12th graders

Ethnic Groups 99 (57%) Latino

59 (34%) African-American16 (9%) “other” 6 of these 16 gave no response

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Anxiety Defined

“A process of repeated vacillations between interruption and concentration that interferes with knowledge acquisition, storage, and retrieval”

Cara Garcia

“The emotions clutter one’s understanding and recall of ideas as one attempts to solve math problems”

Marilyn Curtain-Phillips

A feeling of “sudden death… it is an obsession with the idea that everyone knows that I don’t understand. I’d better not draw attention to myself by asking questions.”

Sheila Tobias

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Math Anxiety and Poor Performance in Math

Math Anxiety Contributes to

Math Avoidance Contributes to

Innumeracy

“Many people think of mathematics as a punishment or something that induces stress”

(Zaslavsky, 1994)

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Innumeracy

Innumeracy is the mathematical

equivalence of illiteracy.

“Innumeracy, an inability to deal comfortably with the fundamental notions of number and chance, plagues far too many otherwise knowledgeable citizens.”

Paulos (2001)

Why study students who fail?

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Over 1 in 5 US Adults Are Innumerate

21% of Americans possess numeracy skills at the lowest level . . . [which] means that people cannot . . . work out the change from $2 when buying goods worth $1.58.

(Murray, 2000. p. 2)

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England Mirrors the US in Innumeracy Rates

Britain addressed their innumeracy issues with mathematical reforms in their schools.

“This is a shocking state of affairs in this rich country, (is) a sad reflection on past decades of schooling and policy priorities over the years”

Sir Claus Moser

British Educationalist

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Focus on Changing Instructional Practices

Math Leaders often focus on logistical changes because that is something we can control (i.e. reduce class size, change schedule, etc.)

“Most efforts to improve education fail because they simply don't have any impact on the quality of teaching inside the classroom… It is teaching, not teachers, that must be changed.”

The Teaching GapStigler and Hiebert (1999)

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Red Herring Approaches to Reform in US- Class Size Reduction

CountryAv. Class

SizeTIMSS-R

Scaled Score

Chinese Taipei

39 585

Hong Kong 37 582

Korea 42 587Singapore 37 604United States 26 502South Africa 50 275Thailand 42 467International Average

31 487

*Results are from 8th grade students

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Red Herring Approaches to Reform in US- Increase Time Spent on Math

CountryHours Spent

on Math (annual)

TIMSS-R Scaled Score

Chinese Taipei

126 585

Hong Kong 149 582

Korea 118 587Singapore 126 604United States 144 502South Africa 136 275Thailand 177 467

International Average 129 487

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If Innumeracy is a National Crisis…

Why Study Failing Students who are

minority and living in poverty?

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Rationale for Focusing on High Poverty Minority Students

“Students who are both minority and high poverty have not only a double achievement gap to overcome, but they are expected to overcome this gap regardless of systemic barriers such as lack of access to rigorous content.”

(Clark, 2004)

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The Venn Diagram of Social Needs

“If we figure out the needs of the most distressed population of any group, as if it were the center of the Venn Diagram, then we have tools to reach all other populations.”

- (Clark, 2006)

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Targeted Location

Service Planning Area (SPA) 6 of Los Angeles County

“Murder Capitol of the World” (2002) Highest in dropouts Highest Poverty Rate (86,000 Latino

and 32,000 African-American children) Highest in teen pregnancy Highest in all of the at risk categories

(arrest rate, health challenges, incarcerated parents, homelessness, etc.)

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Systemic Barriers

Robert Moses (2001) describes the systemic lack of access minorities have to higher math as a “sharecropper’s education,” drawing on an analogy to the post slavery era when African - Americans were intentionally undereducated to keep them employed as farm laborers for low or non-existent wages. Moses considers math literacy to be the new civil rights issue.

Moses, R., Cobb, C.E., (2001) Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights. Beacon Press, Boston Massachusetts.

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College Graduates by Age 24

Young People FromHigh Income Families

48%

Young People FromLow Income Families

7%

Source: Tom Mortenson, Research Seminar on Public Policy Analysis of Opportunity for Post Secondary, 1997.

Ed Trust Foundation, 2000

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The Importance of Algebra

Algebra is a

“Gatekeeper Subject”

meaning that successful completion of the course is a

high predictor of future success; including college

graduation.

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The Opportunity GapBased on Socioeconomic Status

% Teachers Spending Significant Time on Developing Math Reasoning Skills

% Enrolled in a College Prep Track

Low Socio-economic Status (or Greater Than 49% Free Lunch)

39% 28.3%

AffluentSchools 55% 65.1%

West Ed Research Laboratories

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Math AnxietyResults

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Math Anxiety Rating Scale for Adolescents (MARS-A)

98 ITEMS

5 item scale • Choices to Rate Anxiety Level

• Not at all (0)

• A little (1)

• A fair amount (2)

• Much (3)

• Very much (4)

RANGE OF ANXIETY SCORE: 0 - 392

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Math Anxiety Levels of 9th Graders

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

5 10 20 30 40 50 60 75 80 95

percentile

Sco

re 9th Grade

9th Grade Norms

Math Anxiety LevelsAnxiety Levels of 9th Grade

Students Compared to the Norm Group.

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Math Anxiety Levels of 10th Graders

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

5 10 20 30 40 50 60 75 80 95

Percentile

Sco

re 10th Grade

10th Grade Norms

Math Anxiety LevelsAnxiety Levels of 10th Grade

Students Compared to the Norm Group.

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Math Anxiety Levels of 11th Graders

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

5 10 20 30 40 50 60 75 80 95

Percentile

Scor

e 11th Grade

11th Grade Norms

Math Anxiety LevelsAnxiety Levels of 11th Grade

Students Compared to the Norm Group.

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Math Anxiety Levels for Males

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

5 10 20 30 40 50 60 75 80 95

Percentile

Scor

e Norms for High School Males

Males in Study

Math Anxiety LevelsFor Males Compared to the

Norm Group

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Math Anxiety Levels of Females

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

5 10 20 30 40 50 60 75 80 95

Percentile

Scor

e Norms for High School Females N = 127

Females in Study N = 90

Math Anxiety LevelsFor Females Compared to the

Norm Group

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Math Anxiety LevelsBased on

Gender and EthnicityCompared Within Study(results are not statistically significant)

180

185

190

195

200

205

210

Mean

Mean

Mean 209.2828 207.2817 190.5203 192.7773

African American Female Latin American Female African American Male Latin American Male

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Statistical Significance of Gender and Ethnicity and Math Anxiety Levels

Gender 10,106.27 3.07 0.08

Ethnicity 0.60 0.00 0.99

Gender and

Ethnicity 165.58 0.05 0.823

Mean Square F Sig.

P < .05 level = statistically significant

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Math Anxiety By EthnicityMath Anxiety Levels by Ethnicity

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

5 10 20 30 40 50 60 75 80 95

Percentile

Scor

e

Norm Group

Latin American

African American

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Highest Levels of Math Anxiety Yielded by the MARS-A

Thinking about an upcoming math test one day before

Thinking about an upcoming math test one hour before

Thinking about an upcoming math test one week before

Being given a homework assignment of many difficult math problems, which is due the next time the class meets

IMPLICATION…Alternative Assessment is essential for the students

who experience high anxiety

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Highest Levels of Math Anxiety Yielded by the MARS-A (con’t)

Reading and interpreting graphs or chart

Being asked to explain how you arrived at a particular answer for a problem

Opening a math or statistics book and seeing a page full of problems

Asking your math teacher after class about something you did not understand

Having a friend try to teach you how to do a math problem and finding that you cannot understand what is being said

IMPLICATIONS… must have SAFE ENVIRONMENTMath Anxiety Reduction Pedagogy is essential (Visuals, fewer problems,

supportive/collaborative group work without a hierarchy, manipulatives, conversations about math -not 1 student explaining)

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Lowest Levels of Math Anxiety Yielded by the MARS-A

Being given a set of addition problems to solve on paper

Adding up 976 + 777 on paper

Being asked to make change

Counting a pile of change

(This is what we tend to give students over and over again (pseudo algebra preparation) because the students respond better to these problems than to algebra)

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Summary Math anxiety levels were not relevant to

grade level (Conclusion: repeating a class does not help anxiety)

Males experienced moderate levels of math anxiety and females experienced higher levels of math anxiety than the males but results not statistically significant (Conclusion: gender should not l be the main focus)

Test taking/performance procedures (how they are evaluated) had the highest level of statistical significance for anxiety (Conclusion: traditional assessment procedures give a false read on what this population knows)

Basic skills did not produce anxiety for the algebra students (Conclusion: new learning should create low to moderate anxiety. Perhaps there is no new learning w/basic skills)

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“Students in the study reported high anxiety related to classroom procedures. Therefore, a positive emotional (e.g., low anxiety) experience while these students learn algebra may be more relevant to their success in higher math than relearning basic skills.”

(Clark, 2006)

Finding

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Contact Information:

Dr. Felicia Clark

Math Coordinator

Los Angeles Unified School District 8

Felicia.clark@lausd.net