1. 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 Coordinator LAUSD – District 8

2. 3 Purpose of The Study To gain insight into the academic needs of students who repeated algebra so that we can better meet their needs.

3. 4 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 105-9 th graders 33-10 th graders 34-11 th graders 2-12 th graders Ethnic Groups 99 (57%) Latino 59 (34%) African-American 16 (9%) “other” 6 of these 16 gave no response

4. 5 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

5. 6 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)

6. 7 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?

7. 8 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)

8. 9 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

9. 10 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)

10. 11 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 8 th grade students

11. 12 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 I nternational Average 129 487

12. 13 If Innumeracy is a National Crisis… Why Study Failing Students who are minority and living in poverty?

13. 14 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)

14. 15 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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16. 17 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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22. 23 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.

23. 24 College Graduates by Age 24 Source: Tom Mortenson, Research Seminar on Public Policy Analysis of Opportunity for Post Secondary, 1997. Ed Trust Foundation, 2000

24. 25 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.

25. 26 The Opportunity Gap Based 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

26. 27 Math Anxiety Results

27. 28 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

28. 29 Math Anxiety Levels Anxiety Levels of 9th Grade Students Compared to the Norm Group.

29. 30 Math Anxiety Levels Anxiety Levels of 10th Grade Students Compared to the Norm Group.

30. 31 Math Anxiety Levels Anxiety Levels of 11th Grade Students Compared to the Norm Group.

31. 32 Math Anxiety Levels For Males Compared to the Norm Group

32. 33 Math Anxiety Levels For Females Compared to the Norm Group

33. 34 Math Anxiety Levels Based on Gender and Ethnicity Compared Within Study (results are not statistically significant)

34. 35 Statistical Significance of Gender and Ethnicity and Math Anxiety Levels Gender10,106.273.070.08 Ethnicity0.600.000.99 Gender and Ethnicity165.580.05 0.823 Mean Square F Sig. P <.05 level = statistically significant

35. 36 Math Anxiety By Ethnicity

36. 37 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

37. 38 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 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)

38. 39 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)

39. 40 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)

40. 41 “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

41. 42 Contact Information: Dr. Felicia Clark Math Coordinator Los Angeles Unified School District 8 Felicia.clark@lausd.net