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 AfricanAmerican and Latino

174 participants
• 90 girls
• 84 boysth
• 105-9 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 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? 7
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)
10
Red Herring Approaches to
Reform in USClass Size Reduction
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
Country
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*Results are from 8th grade students
Red Herring Approaches to
Reform in USIncrease Time Spent on Math
Hours Spent
on Math
(annual)
TIMSS-R
Scaled
Score
Chinese
Taipei
126
585
Hong Kong
149
118
126
144
136
177
582
Country
Korea
Singapore
United States
South Africa
Thailand
International
Average
129
587
604
502
275
467
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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19
20
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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.
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Moses, R., Cobb, C.E., (2001) Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights. Beacon P
College Graduates by
Age 24
Young People From
High Income Families
48%
Young People From
Low Income Families
7%
Source: Tom Mortenson, Research Seminar on Public Policy Analysis of Opportunity for Post Secondary, 19
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 Gap
Based on Socioeconomic Status
% Teachers Spending
Significant Time on
Developing Math
Reasoning Skills
% Enrolled in a
College Prep
Track
Low Socioeconomic
Status (or
Greater
Than 49%
Free Lunch)
39%
28.3%
Affluent
Schools
55%
65.1%
West Ed Research Laboratories
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Math
Anxiety
Results
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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
Anxiety Levels of 9th Grade
Students Compared to the
Norm Group.
Math Anxiety Levels of 9th Graders
350
300
250
Score
200
9th Grade
9th Grade No
150
100
50
0
5
10
20
30
40
50
60
75
80
95
percentile
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Math Anxiety Levels
Anxiety Levels of 10th
Grade Students Compared
to the Norm Group.
Math Anxiety Levels of 10th Graders
350
300
250
Score
200
10th Grade
10th Grade Norms
150
100
50
0
5
10
20
30
40
50
60
75
80
95
Percentile
30
Math Anxiety Levels
Anxiety Levels of 11th
Grade Students Compared
to the Norm Group.
Math Anxiety Levels of 11th Graders
350
300
250
Score
200
11th Grade
11th Grade Norms
150
100
50
0
5
10
20
30
40
50
60
75
80
95
Percentile
31
Math Anxiety Levels
For Males Compared to the
Norm Group
Math Anxiety Levels for Males
350
300
250
Score
200
Norms for High School Males
Males in Study
150
100
50
0
5
10
20
30
40
50
60
75
80
95
Percentile
32
Math Anxiety Levels
For Females Compared to
the Norm Group
Math Anxiety Levels of Females
350
300
250
Score
200
Norms for High School Females N = 127
Females in Study N = 90
150
100
50
0
5
10
20
30
40
50
60
75
80
95
Percentile
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Math Anxiety Levels
Based on
Gender and Ethnicity
Compared Within Study
(results are not statistically significant)
Mean
210
205
200
195
Mean
190
185
180
Mean
African American Female
Latin American Female
African American Male
Latin American Male
209.2828
207.2817
190.5203
192.7773
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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 < .05 level = statistically significant
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Math Anxiety By Ethnicity
Math Anxiety Levels by Ethnicity
350
300
250
200
Score
Norm Group
Latin American
African American
150
100
50
0
5
10
20
30
40
50
Percentile
60
75
80
95
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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 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
[email protected]
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