Gender by Racial/Ethnic Intersectionality in the Patterns of Adolescents’ Math Motivation and Their Math Achievement and Engagement

Background/Context Policy makers and scholars have long called for the large-scale recruitment of teachers of color, partly based on evidence highlighting the positive effects of racial/ethnic matching between students and teachers of color on various student experiences and achievements. A more nuanced understanding of racial/ethnic matching effects moderated by contextual factors may help policy makers’ and administrators’ assignment decisions on how to consider student and teacher race/ethnicity. Purpose/Objective/Research Question This study examined the contextualized effects of racial/ethnic matching between high school students and teachers, focusing on the urbanicity of schools in the United States, by asking two main research questions: (1) What are the associations between the racial/ethnic matching of students and teachers, and students’ math achievement and self-efficacy in the United States overall? (2) What are the associations among racial/ethnic matching, math achievement, and math self-efficacy in urban schools, and do these patterns differ for suburban and rural schools? Research Design This study used restricted-use national longitudinal data provided by the NCES High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. A strategy of disaggregating data by schools’ urbanicity and three separate analyses with fixed-effect models for each urbanicity (urban, suburban, and rural) was followed to capture the variations across different schools’ urbanicity and to obtain unbiased estimates of racial/ethnic matching effects. Findings/Results Relatively lower percentages of Black, Hispanic, and Asian students were matched with their same-race/ethnicity math teachers compared with White students in all communities. This study found no supporting evidence for positive associations between racial/ethnic matching and math achievement scores and self-efficacy without considering urbanicity. Within the context of urbanicity, positive associations for math achievement were mainly found in the racial/ethnic matching of Black and Asian students taught by same-race/ethnicity teachers in suburban schools. Conversely, the racial/ethnic matching among Asian students and teachers in rural schools was significantly and negatively associated with both math achievement and self-efficacy. Conclusions/Recommendations By focusing specifically on schools’ urbanicity contexts, policy makers and education leaders should consider the relatively lower percentage of racial/ethnic matching between Black students and teachers in urban and suburban schools, and Hispanic students and teachers in urban and rural schools. As rural Asian populations grow and diversify, Asian teachers from diverse cultural backgrounds are urgently needed in these communities. Contextualized policy solutions that consider school environments and cultural differences and that challenge the one-size-fits-all approach will ultimately better address the specific and diverse needs of students of color living in different communities across the United States.

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Math Anxiety, Math Achievement and Math Motivation in High School Students: Gender Effects

Croatian Journal of Education - Hrvatski časopis za odgoj i obrazovanje ◽

10.15516/cje.v22i1.3372 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ilija Milovanović

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

High School Students ◽

Math Achievement ◽

Math Anxiety ◽

Gender Effects ◽

School Students ◽

Negative Contribution ◽

Moderation Effect ◽

School Year ◽

Math Motivation

According to the results of previous research, math anxiety is an important determinant of lower math achievement among high school students. Although math anxiety affects both genders, some findings indicate that girls are more prone to its manifestation, but do not explain how the contribution of different math anxiety dimensions to the math achievement depends on the interaction of students' gender and manifestations of math motivation. The aim of this research was to examine the moderation effect of gender in the relation between math anxiety and math achievement mediated by math motivation in high school students. The sample consisted of 514 high school students (45.3% male), aged 15 to 19, from Serbia. The instruments used in the research were the Math Anxiety Questionnaire and Students Motivation to Learn Mathematics Scale, while math achievement was measured as the average grade in mathematics at the end of the first term and at the end of the school year. The results of the moderated mediation analysis pointed out negative contribution of the math anxiety to achievement in both genders, with a full mediation of Satisfaction among boys, and partial mediation of Satisfaction and Usefulness among girls. Based on the analysis of the obtained results, it can be concluded that it is necessary to apply different motivating strategies in order to overcome math anxiety, which depends on students' gender.

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Multivariate latent change modeling of developmental decline in academic intrinsic math motivation and achievement: Childhood through adolescence

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025407077752 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 317-327 ◽

Cited By ~ 92

Author(s):

Adele Eskeles Gottfried ◽

George A. Marcoulides ◽

Allen W. Gottfried ◽

Pamella H. Oliver ◽

Diana Wright Guerin

Keyword(s):

Mathematics Achievement ◽

Intrinsic Motivation ◽

Math Achievement ◽

Change Model ◽

Academic Intrinsic Motivation ◽

School Learning ◽

Subject Areas ◽

Math Motivation ◽

Over Time ◽

Motivation And Achievement

Research has established that academic intrinsic motivation, enjoyment of school learning without receipt of external rewards, significantly declines across childhood through adolescence. Math intrinsic motivation evidences the most severe decline compared with other subject areas. This study addresses this developmental decline in math intrinsic motivation, and also serves as a resource for applied researchers by providing exemplary illustrations of approaches to longitudinal modeling. Using a multivariate latent change model, the longitudinal relationship between academic intrinsic math motivation and math achievement among participants ( n = 114) aged 9—17 years was examined to explain this motivational decline. On average, both math motivation and achievement decreased over time. This study reveals that math achievement is a significant contributor to the developmental decline in intrinsic math motivation from childhood through adolescence. In addition, academic intrinsic math motivation was found to be related to initial and later levels of mathematics achievement. These findings enhance understanding of developmental processes whereby early motivation and achievement are related to subsequent declines in mathematics.

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A person-centered investigation of math motivation and its correlates to math achievement in elementary students

Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology ◽

10.1017/prp.2019.21 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bo Lv ◽

Lijie Lv ◽

Ping Wang ◽

Liang Luo

Keyword(s):

Math Achievement ◽

Autonomous Motivation ◽

Poor Quality ◽

High Quality ◽

Controlled Motivation ◽

Quality Profile ◽

Low Levels ◽

Motivation Profiles ◽

Math Motivation ◽

High Level

Abstract The present study used a person-centered approach to identify math motivation profiles under self-determination theory, and examine whether math achievement varies across different profiles. Data were collected from 2,137 children. Five student motivation profiles were identified: a “high quality” profile characterized by high levels of intrinsic and identiﬁed motivation and a low level of controlled motivation, a “high quantity” profile characterized by high levels of these three kinds of motivation, a “low quantity” profile characterized by low levels of these three kinds of motivation, a “poor quality” profile characterized by a high level of controlled motivation and low levels of intrinsic and identiﬁed motivation, and a “low autonomous motivation” profile characterized by very low levels of intrinsic and identiﬁed motivation. These five profiles differed in math achievement. We found that students in the high quality profile had the highest level of math achievement compared to those in the other profiles. This result indicated that the quality of motivation was more important than the amount of motivation.

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effects of an online collaborative elementary math program using team-based games to improve student math achievement, attitude and motivation.

International Journal for Innovation Education and Research ◽

10.31686/ijier.vol4.iss7.568 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 (7) ◽

pp. 113-138 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Gary Glen Bitter ◽

John Puglisi ◽

Annie Gorges ◽

Harpreet Kaur Uppal

Keyword(s):

Elementary Students ◽

Student Performance ◽

Math Achievement ◽

Research Study ◽

Skilled Workers ◽

Math Program ◽

Elementary Math ◽

Math Motivation ◽

Change In Mean ◽

Attitude And Motivation

The U.S. mathematics education system is failing to produce enough technically skilled workers for it to stay globally competitive. One of the key problems is that U.S. students are not learning the foundational math skills they need during the elementary school years. This research study evaluated the effects of an online collaborative elementary math program using team-based games (Sokikom) to improve student math achievement, attitude and motivation. The research questions focus was on achievement, attitude and motivation. Sokikom, (pronounced so-kee-kom) is an online collaborative math program developed through grants from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), where elementary students help each other learn through a team-based game as well as adaptive, independent learning games. Though a quasi-experimental design, the researchers studied the effects of using Sokikom for 1 year in 2 elementary schools in Oxnard, CA. Specifically, effects on students' mathematics achievement as measured through the end-of-year CA state test. The results showed that there was a significant and positive association between the number of new lessons mastered and mathachievement as measured by the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) scores (p<.0001), which use the Smarter Balanced Assessment. For each additional new lesson mastered a student's CAASPP math score increased 0.58 points. Notably the change in mean on the CAASPP score and the students' intrinsic motivation to learn math. End of study data showed students that used Sokikom reliably, had significantly higher CAASPP math scores (18% higher) than other students, independent of teacher or school. In addition, students that used Sokikom reliably had more than twice the amount of students that significantly improved motivation and attitude toward learning mathematics compared to other students independent of teacher or school. The research study also examined the effect reliable-use of Sokikom had on positively changing student math motivation and attitudes for students who find math difficult and boring and students who are curious and excited about math. The latent transition analysis(LTA) findings showed a higher probability of transitioning from the subgroup that found math difficult and boring to the subgroup that were curious and excited about math was for students who used Sokikom reliably, suggesting that Sokikom may have had a positive impact on students’ math motivation. For the treated group, the probability of transitioning from the subgroup that found math difficult and boring to the subgroup of students who were curious and excited about math was 0.29, from Time 1 to Time 2. By contrast for the intent to treat group, the probability of transition from the subgroup that found math difficult and boring to the subgroup of students who were curious and excited was 0.14, from Time 1 to Time 2. In general, this research study found that regular use of an online collaborative elementary math game program (Sokikom) by elementary students has the potential to improve math achievement and provide positive motivation in the learning of mathematics.

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Does school-level use of exclusionary discipline mediate the relation between school segregation and academic achievement?

10.32469/10355/65914 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Daniel R. Cohen

Keyword(s):

Indirect Effects ◽

Math Achievement ◽

Empirical Work ◽

School Level ◽

School Segregation ◽

Exclusionary Discipline ◽

School Suspension ◽

Segregated Schools ◽

Racial Ethnic ◽

Out Of School

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This study evaluated the relation between ethnic/racial and economic school segregation and math achievement in public school students participating in the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Survey of 2009. Previous research has demonstrated that economically and racially/ethnically segregated schools are associated with lower academic performance on the student level, controlling for individual student characteristics. Existing empirical work has also demonstrated the school process variables explain some of the variation in achievement in segregated schools compared to schools with lower concentrations of racial ethnic/minority students and those living in poverty. The present study assessed both the direct impact of school segregation on math achievement as well as indirect effects mediated by exclusionary discipline practices including in-school suspension and out of school suspension. Study findings suggest that that racial/ethnic and economic segregation results in reductions in math achievement through indirect effects associated with the school-level proportion of students receiving out of school suspension.

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