ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN MATH AND RVM MATH ACHIEVEMENT TEST RESULTS OF INTERMEDIATE LEVEL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School University of the Immaculate Conception Davao City In Partial Fulfilment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Major in Mathematics
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ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN MATH AND RVM MATH ACHIEVEMENT TEST RESULTS OF INTERMEDIATE LEVEL OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
A ThesisPresented to
The Faculty of the Graduate SchoolUniversity of the Immaculate Conception
Davao City
In Partial FulfilmentOf the Requirements for the Degree ofMaster of Arts Major in Mathematics
LIEZL LUNGAY ANTONIO
March 2011CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING
Introduction
Mathematics is a basic skill needed that every person must
acquire to survive in this world. However, according to Abel,
Mathematics is not something that we normally associate with
sublime beauty. The way mathematics is taught, it is a subject
that many people would prefer to avoid because they find it
difficult .
Some pupils are not comfortable with mathematics and are
not confident about their mathematical ability and that any skills
that they have gained are irrelevant. Some pupils see
mathematics as something to be avoided and that the
mathematics program must be considered to have failed them
(Riedesel, et. Al, 1996) .
In international setting, based on 2007 Trends in
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and 2009
National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) showed major
deficiencies in students’ learning in mathematics. Students
showed a basic lack of understanding. Most could not solve even
straightforward problems.
Based on the TIMSS previous results (1995, 1999 and
2003), the Philippines is lagging behind its neighboring Asian
countries. In the 1995 TIMSS, the Philippines ranked 39th in Math
out of 42 participating countries. In 1999, the Philippines ranked
third to the last for math. In 2003 TIMSS, the Philippine ranked
41st in Math among the 42 participants. Very alarming since the
Philippines is second to the last when in terms of mathematical
ability. In 2007 TIMSS, the Philippines did not join because of its
low rate.
The quality elementary education in the Philippines has
deteriorated over the years as indicated by the low achievement
rates of students in 2007 especially in Math which is 64.81% only.
It is very low compared to the desired 75% cut-off score.
Meanwhile, the quality of secondary education is not far from that
of the elementary level as indicated by the poor performance of
4th year students in the National Achievement Test (NAT) in 2006
in all subjects particularly in math with Mean Percentage Scores
only of 44% .
In local scene, the quality education especially in Math in
Mindanao is in a dismal state requiring immediate attention from
educational leaders.
The report of Tony Rimando (2009) revealed that the
region’s performance in both elementary and secondary National
Achievement Tests (NATs) is not impressive. The Grade 6 pupils
scored lowest in Math, garnering only a mean percentage score
of 62.6 percent. The secondary level also registered a dismal
academic performance as it posted an unimpressive mps of 41.4
percent in Mathematics .
In the Grade School Department of the University of the
Immaculate Conception, through the results of the 2010 RVM
National Achievement Test, showed that the three levels – grades
four, five and six need to focus more on the instruction in
Mathematics since it has the lowest average percentage rate
compared to English and Science.
It is for this reason that the researcher conducted this study
to find out how to improve the Math proficiency of our
department.
Statement of the Problem
The purpose of this study was to determine the influence
relationship of the academic performance Math on the RVM Math
Achievement Test Results of the grade five pupils of the
University of the Immaculate Conception the school year 2009-
2010.
More specifically, the study seeks answers to the following
questions:
1.)What is the level of the academic performance of Grades
Four , Five
And Six pupils in Math?
2.) What is the level of performance of the three
levels in RVM
Achievement Test in math?
3.) Is there a significant relationship between the academic
performance of
the pupils and RVM Achievement Test Results in math?
4.) Do academic performance of the three levels significantly
contribute on
the RVM Achievement Test results in math?
Null Hypotheses
Ho: There is no significant relationship between the academic
performance of the pupils and RVM Achievement Test Results in
math?
Ho: Academic performance of the intermediate pupils do not
significantly contribute on the RVM Achievement Test results in
math?
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework
This study is anchored on the theory of constructivism
advanced by Piaget and Vygotsky . According to them,
constructivism is a theory about knowledge and learning.
Constructivism is basically a theory – based on observation and
scientific study – about how people learn. It says that people
construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world,
through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.
When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with
our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we
believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In
any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do
this, we must ask questions, explore and assess what we know. In
Mathematics, students need to construct their own understanding
of each mathematical concept, so that the primary role of
teaching is not to lecture, explain, or otherwise attempt to
transfer mathematical knowledge, but to create situations for
students that will foster them in making the necessary mental
constructions. Constructivism suggests that math knowledge
results from people forming models in response to the questions
and challenges that come from actively engaging math problems
and environments not from simply taking in information, nor as
merely the blossoming of an innate gift. The challenge in
teaching is to create experiences that engage the student and
support his or her own explanation, evaluation, communication
and application of the mathematical models needed to make
sense of the experiences.
Thus, in this study, the independent variable is the
academic performance of the intermediate level in mathematics,
the dependent variable is the RVM math Achievement Test.
Figure 1 : The Conceptual Paradigm of the Study
Independent Variable Dependent Variable
Scope and Delimitation of the Study
This study is confined within the bounds of the levels of
academic performance in Math and their RVM Math Achievement
Test of the Grades Four, Five and Six pupils of the University of
the Immaculate Conception in the academic year 2009-2010.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
MATHEMATICS
RVMACHIEVEMENT TEST
RESULTS
MATHEMATICS
The respondents of the study were further delimited using
the stratified proportional random sampling to 237 intermediate
pupils of the University of the Immaculate Conception enrolled in
the academic year 2009-2010. Furthermore, the study was
delimited in measuring the pupils’ performance according to the
coverage of the grade five Mathematics as prescribed by the
Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM) Commission on Education and
with the minimum learning competencies set by the Department
of Education.
This study begins from December 2010-March 2011.
Significance of the Study
With an intent to ascertain the relationship between the
level of academic performance of the Grade Five pupils in Math
and the RVM
Math Achievement Test results, the researcher hopes that the
study will benefit the school, administrators, teachers, parents
and pupils.
School Administrators. The result of the study shall be of
benefit to the administrators because somehow through this
study they can specify necessary curricula, practices, skills,
attitudes, and policies that are appropriate in enhancing the
learning competencies of the learners and the quality instructions
of the teachers.
Teachers. The result of this study can help the teachers
level up their trainings, skills and knowledge to improve and
highlight quality education for Mathematics .
Parents . The findings of this study will serve as an eye
opener for the parents to dedicate their efforts in guiding,
monitoring and supporting their children’s learning and
achievement .
Pupils. The findings derived from the study will give them
insights on how to engage in classroom discourse and activities
and social interaction to improve their academic performance in
Mathematics .
Definition of Terms
The following terms were defined conceptually and
operationally for further understanding of the study.
Academic Performance- It refers to how students deal
with their studies and how they cope with or accomplish different
tasks given to them by their teachers. It is also the ability to
study and remember facts and being able to communicate
verbally or down on paper.
Achievement- Measure of the effects of a specific
program of program or instruction (Anastasi, 1997) . In this study,
achievement was measured by the RVM Math Achievement Test.
RVM National Achievement Test – It is the test
conducted annually by the Religious of the Virgin Mary sisters
(RVM). It is composed of three subject areas; Science, math and
English with 50 items in each test.
This measures the competencies of the Grades four, five
and six pupils of the RVM Schools nationwide.
MPS – It means Mean Percentage Score. This indicates the
ratio between the number of correctly answered items and the
total number of test questions or the percentage of correctly
answered items in a test.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
This chapter is a presentation of the researcher’s related
literature and studies aided the researcher in organizing and
formulating the theoretical framework of this study. The salient
feature of the gathered information was realized through the
various readings in the library and internet surfing. Consequently,
the ideas and concepts acquired herein have helped posit the
hypotheses.
The Meaning of Mathematics
What is Mathematics? Mathematics is commonly defined as
the study of patterns of structure, change and space; more
informally, one might say, it is the study of figures and numbers.
Mathematics is many things to many people. The more we
know what people believe mathematics is all about, the better we
will be able to communicate with them. More important, the
better we understand mathematics, the better we’ll be able to
help children learn.
Examination/Achievement
It is important how the achievement was measured before
the conclusions can be drawn .
More often than that, standardized test scores are used to
determine how well students are doing in school.
In recent years, testing programs have increased (Kamii,
1990) . Raising scores and having a good appearance are the
goals of most schools because newspapers and other media rank
schools and district by test scores. Other facet of society also rely
on these test scores to determine the best schools.
Gardner (1993) agrees that academic achievement should
be measured .
Academic Performance
According to Michelle Bell, although, education is not the
only road to success in the working world, much efforts is made
to identify, evaluate, track and encourage the progress of
students in schools. Parents care about their child’s academic
performance because they believe good academic results will
provide more career choices and job security. Schools, though
invested in fostering good academic habits for the same reason,
are also influenced by concerns about the school’s reputation and
the possibility of monetary government institutions, which can
hinge on the overall academic performance of the school. State
and federal departments of education are charged with improving
schools, and so devise methods of measuring success in order to
create plans for improvement.
In the past, academic performance was often measured
more by ear than today. Teachers’ observations made up the
bulk of the assessment, and today’s summation, or numerical,
method of determining how well a student is performing is a fairly
recent invention. Grading systems came into existence and were
initially criticized due to high subjectivity. Different teachers
valued different aspects of learning more highly than others, and
although some standardization was attempted in order to make
the system more fair, the problem continued. Today, changes
have been made to incorporate differentiation for individual
students’ abilities, and exploration of alternate methods of
measuring performance is ongoing.
The tracking of academic performance fulfills a number of
purposes. Areas of achievement and failure in a student’s
academic career need to be evaluated in order to foster
improvement and make full use of the learning process. Results
provide framework for talking about how students fare in school,
and a constant standard to which all students are held.
Performance results also allow students to be ranked and sorted
on a scale that is numerically obvious, minimizing complaints by
holding teachers and schools accountable for the components of
each and every grade.
Performance in school is evaluated in a number of ways. For
regular grading, students demonstrate their knowledge by taking
written and oral tests, performing presentations, turning in
homework and participating in class activities and discussions.
Teachers evaluate in the form of letter or number grades and
side notes, to describe how well a student has done. At the state
level, students are evaluated by their performance on
standardized tests geared toward specific level and based on a
set of achievements students in each age group are expected to
meet like that of the RVM Math Achievement Test.
Achievement Test
Achievement is a measure of what a person has learned
within or up to a given time (Yaremko et al. 1982). It is a measure
of the accomplished skills and indicates what a person can do at
the present (Atkinson 1995). Kimball (1989) explained the
differences between traditional and alternative views in the
achievement of students in Mathematics. He noted that the
greater number of courses taken by students and their more
extensive classroom experience with Mathematics outside the
classroom may give them an advantage. The advantage is in the
knowledge of Mathematics which gives them increased
confidence when taking standardized tests. Moreover,
extracurricular Mathematics activities may facilitate class
learning. Having more mathematics-related experiences may
increase students’ performance on standardized either directly or
indirectly. Greater experience with mathematics may provide
specific knowledge such as algorithms that can be used to solve
problems. Indirectly, greater experience may facilitate
performance through general familiarity with mathematical
thinking and increased confidence. Another explanation in the
achievement of mathematics is the autonomous approach in
learning that facilitates performance on standardized tests, which
require one to apply or generalize mathematics knowledge to a
new or familiar problem. On the other hand, there are other
students who take rote to learning approach to mathematics that
proves to be advantageous in the classroom exams. These
differing styles of learning facilitate performance on different
kinds of achievement measures. Another way of explaining the
performance of students is the novelty or familiarity of the
situations. There are students who are motivated to do well and
are confident when dealing with familiar situations, but become
less confident when dealing with novel materials. Thus, they do
better on mathematics examinations that cover relatively more
familiar topics, but they do less well on standardized test that are
more likely to contain novel topics. On the other hand, there are
students who are motivated to do well and are more confident
when dealing with novel or challenging situations but are less
motivated to perform well when faced with familiar situations.
Thus, they do well on standardized test, which offer more
challenges, but do less well on classroom exams. This
explanation rests on the assumption that standardized tests are
relatively more novel and unfamiliar than classroom
examinations. They are more novel in two ways: the standardized
test is a more novel situation because it occurs less often and
sometimes is administered by a stranger. Occasionally, the
standardized test is given outside the class time and in a strange
environment. On the other hand, the classroom examinations are
taken several times within a course with the same group of
people, are given by the same person, and occur in the same
physical environment. Second, the materials or problems on a
standardized test are more likely to be novel or unfamiliar to the
students taking the test. Standardized exams are not designed to
cover what has been learned in class. A ‘fair test’ in the
classroom emphasizes what have been taught. In this case, the
students may be given hints or information about how to prepare
for a traditional classroom exam.
Moreover, achievement testing is a big concern for
educators and parents today. Whether children attend public,
private or home schools, parents hope this test will give them big
answers.
Achievement tests are designed to allow to demonstrate the
academic proficiency of the children and they are also reliable
measure of the child’s and school performance.
On the other hand, the RVM Math Achievement Test is an
annual examination administered to all RVM schools throughout
the country to determine the achievement level, strengths and
weaknesses in Math.
The study of Alicante (2009) and Garao (2006) were related
to this study since they dealt on the deteriorating quality
education especially in mathematics.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the research methodology, the
respondents involved in the data, sampling procedure, the
researcher instruments, data gathering procedures and the
statistical treatment that were used.
Researcher Method
A descriptive correlation method of research with the use of
data on the academic performance in Math and the use of the
RVM National Achievement Test conducted by the Grades Four,
Five and Six was applied in this study. The goal is the acquisition
of the factual, accurate and systematic data that can be used in
averages, frequencies and similar statistical calculations. A
descriptive method of research is a fact-finding approach which
studies the nature and status of a group of persons, objects, a
class of events, conditions and others. It also describes records,
analyzes and interprets gathering data. In a correlation method, a
relationship between variables is determined (Aquino, 1974) .
Correlation is one of the most common and useful statistics.
It is a single number that describes the degree of relationship
between two variables. Good (1963) defines correlation as the
tendency for corresponding observations in two or more series to
very together from the averages of their respective series, that
is, to have similar positions.
Research Locale
This study was conducted at the University of the
Immaculate Conception Grade School Department Bajada, Davao
City. Davao City where the school is situated is young romantic
city in the Philippines. It is one of the most beautiful cities in Asia.
It is cosmopolitan and metro lifestyle. The area of Davao City is
2,443.61 square kilometres. It is divided into 3 congressional
districts, which are further divided into 11 administrative districts
containing a total of 184 barangays.
Davao City is approximately 588 miles (946km) statute
miles southeast of Manila, 971 kilometers (524 nmi) by the sea.
Davao City is typhoon-free due to its location. The city
enjoys a weather that balmy all year round.
Moreover, it is very accessible and is the gateway to the
Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area or
BIMP-EAGA.
The University of the Immaculate Conception formerly
known as Immaculate Conception College is the first catholic
school in the island of Mindanao founded in 1905 by the
Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary sisters (RVM). It
has three campuses; the main, the annex and Bajada where the
grade school and high school are held.
The study is conducted at the Grade School Department of
the UIC which is located in J.P Laurel Bajada Davao City. It is
situated in a seven hectare lot, four kilometres away from the
city proper. Since it is away from the city, its place is very
conducive for learning because it is also free from the pollution
and noise of the roads more than that it is also very well-
ventilated and it has rooms full of attractive decoration. At
present, the Grade School Department has a total population of
1,289 from Kindergarten to Grade Six. There are 41 teachers, 4
coordinators and a principal.
Respondents of the Study
There were 196 Grade Five pupils in the University of the
Immaculate Conception involved in this study who served as
respondents. A universal sampling technique was used since
there were only five sections of the Grade Five. These pupils
represented the whole population of the Grade Five classes.
Sources of data
The data used in this study was obtained from the following:
1) Final Rating in Mathematics 5
The average rating in Mathematics for the four grading
periods of the academic year 2009-2010 that the pupils received
was taken as a measure of their academic achievement in
Mathematics.
FINAL RATING PERFORMANCE LEVEL
100-95 Excellent
94-90 Very High Level
89-85 High Level
84-80 Average Level
79-75 Low Level
74-70 Very Poor Level
2) RVM Math Achievement Test Result
The RVM Achievement Test was used to evaluate the
performance of the pupils’ respondents in math. The test is
conducted annually by the Religious of the Virgin Mary. It is
composed of three subject areas namely: Math, Science and
English with 50 items in each test. The RVM Achievement Test
was subjected to expert consultation that measures the
competencies in grade four, five and six pupils of the RVM
schools nationwide.
Research Procedure
The researcher followed the given steps.
1. Seeking permission from the principal to conduct the study.
2. Obtaining the results of the RVM Math Achievement Test
administered to the Grade five pupils from the Guidance Office.
3. Securing the final rating in Mathematics of the Grade Five
pupils from
the Registrar’s Office.
4. Tabulating, analyzing and interpreting the data
Statistical Treatment
The following descriptive statistics such as mean and
standard deviation were used to interpret the data. The Person-r
was used to test the relationship between the academic
performance in Mathematics and the result in the RVM Math
Achievement Test.
1. Mean – is a central value of a group of observation of
individuals. It is
obtain by dividing the sum of all the scores with the total
number
2. Person r – correlation tells the magnitude and direction of the
association between variables and the varied on an
interval or
ration scale.
All the interpretations were based on = 0.05 level of
significance using the two-tailed test.
CHAPTER IV
RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
In this chapter, the data gathered are presented, analyzed
and interpreted. The discussion in this chapter follows the
sequence below.
a. Level of Pupils’ Academic Performance in Mathematics by
Class
b. Profile of Pupils’ Performance Based on the Scaled Ability
Score in RVM Math Achievement Test by class
c. The Relationship of the Academic Performance and the
result in the RVM Math Achievement Test
d. The relationship of the Academic Performance and the RVM
Math Achievement Test Result when the pupils are grouped
according to their IQ Level
e. The Relationship of the Academic Performance and the
Result in the RVM Math Achievement Test when pupils are
grouped according to their sex.
A. Level of Pupils’ Achievement in Mathematics
Table 1 that follows, shows the performance of the Grade
Five pupils in Mathematics by class.
Table 1
Level of Pupils’ Academic Performance in Mathematics By Class