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

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MATH ANXIETY AMONG MINORITY STUDENTS IN HIGH
POVERTY SCHOOLS WHO FAILED ALGEBRA
Presented by Dr. Felicia Clark Math
Coordinator LAUSD District 8
NCSM St. Louis, Missouri April 2006
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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-American
• 16 (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 ones 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 dont
  understand. Id 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 Gap
• Stigler and Hiebert (1999)

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Red Herring Approaches to Reform in US- Class
Size Reduction
Country Av. Class Size TIMSS-R Scaled Score
Chinese Taipei 39 585
Hong Kong 37 582
Korea 42 587
Singapore 37 604
United States 26 502
South Africa 50 275
Thailand 42 467
International 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
Country Hours Spent on Math (annual) TIMSS-R Scaled Score
Chinese Taipei 126 585
Hong Kong 149 582
Korea 118 587
Singapore 126 604
United States 144 502
South Africa 136 275
Thailand 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
  sharecroppers 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
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
Affluent Schools 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 LevelsAnxiety Levels of 9th Grade
Students Compared to the Norm Group.
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Math Anxiety LevelsAnxiety Levels of 10th Grade
Students Compared to the Norm Group.
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Math Anxiety LevelsAnxiety Levels of 11th Grade
Students Compared to the Norm Group.


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Math Anxiety LevelsFor Males Compared to the
Norm Group
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Math Anxiety LevelsFor Females Compared to the
Norm Group
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Math Anxiety Levels Based on Gender and
Ethnicity Compared Within Study (results are not
statistically significant)
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Statistical Significance of Gender and Ethnicity
and Math Anxiety Levels
Mean Square F Sig.
Gender 10,106.27 3.07 0.08 Ethnicity 0.60 0.00
0.99 Gender and Ethnicity 165.58 0.05
0.823
P lt .05 level statistically significant
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Math Anxiety By Ethnicity
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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 (cont)

• 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 ENVIRONMENT
• Math 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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Finding

• 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)

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Contact Information Dr. Felicia Clark Math
Coordinator Los Angeles Unified School District
8 Felicia.clark_at_lausd.net