MATH SCORES OF HISPANIC AND NON-HISPANIC STUDENTS

Differences in the Math Scores of Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Students

Differences in the Math Scores of Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Students

Theoretical background

The purpose of this study is to explore the lag in different ethnicities' students' achievement in Math Scores, as compared to Hispanic student achievement in New York. The focus of the study are Hispanics because 1) the Hispanic population is growing exponentially arid 2) Hispanics are scoring significantly higher on achievement tests than other ethnic groups due to the emphasis in their families by parents. The study is a quantitative analysis of the relationship between student characteristics and achievement among 2007-2008 tenth- grade students' state assessment AIMS Math and Reading scale scores from Clarksville School District. Hispanics are the focus of the study and Whites are used as the group for comparison because Whites comprised the majority of the 2007-2008 tenth-grade AIMS population. The researcher will conduct an extensive review of the literature regarding the influence of student characteristics related to their achievement. Ethnicity, gender and family attention on studies are identified as the most salient features associated with overall student achievement.

Historical background

As the Hispanic population increases in North Carolina, the number of college graduates of Hispanic descent should follow. Although a gradual increase in Hispanic students attending state universities has been seen, the increase has not kept pace with the increases seen in the general population. Additionally, the numbers of those achieving the baccalaureate degree have not increased. There have been a number of research projects in recent years that have documented qualitative reasons why Hispanic students have been reluctant to go to college and the factors that contribute to their success and failure at institutions of high education.

Project specific information

The concept of equity in academic achievement for all students, regardless of ethnicity, is an issue that has captured the attention of politicians, educators, and the federal government since the 1960s with the implementation of the ESEA of 1965. The Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA) was soon followed by the report, A Nation at Risk, in which the low achievement levels of students within the American school system were detailed (Velazquez, 2010).

Descriptive statistics confirmed the effect of ethnicity, gender, and emphasis in home on student achievement demonstrated in the empirical literature. The method of analysis includes frequency distributions to show intervals of data, as well as data analysis of student achievement scores according to the NCLB model as a point of comparison. There was a linear regression analysis of the student characteristic variables as well as special education and individual high school variables to predict scale scores for tenth-grade students in Clarksville School District. In addition, interaction terms are reported where the introduction of such terms were both statistically significant and improved the fit of the model (Haertel, 2010).

The most significant finding showed that the addition of the 'Parent emphasis on studies' variable had the largest negative effect on student achievement as measured by AIMS Math and Reading ...