Volume 1 Number 3
May 1962

Y. T. Witherspoon

Director, Bureau of Indian Services

University of Utah

There are in the literature a number of examples of the measurement of Indian achievement in academic subjects using standardized tests. There are, however, almost no published descriptions of test batteries assembled to test a specific population with specific goals. This article will describe just such a program, where a test battery was assembled to measure certain skills in a certain Indian population in a certain way (see Note 1).

This particular research program was undertaken as a part of a contract between the Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray reservation in Utah and the Bureau of Indian Services of the University of Utah. The Bureau of Indian Services was to analyze the academic achievement of the Ute children in the local public schools. It was initially assumed that the data from the standardized achievement tests being used in the public schools would be sufficient for the projected analysis. A preliminary survey of individual scores on these standardized achievement batteries quickly demonstrated that many of the Ute Indian children's scores were no higher than chance. This meant either that these children had learned nothing from their educational experiences, or that for some reason the test was not an effective measure.

Everyday experience seemed to indicate that all of the Indian children did possess some skills, minimal though they might be, in the academic tool subjects. It was decided therefore, that an attempt would be made to assemble in experimental battery of tests that would measure the achievement of every child in the public schools in the tool subjects of arithmetic computation, story problems, vocabulary, and reading. In addition, it was decided to include two non-verbal reasoning tests which, it was hoped, would serve as diagnostic indices in the identification of under- and over-achievers.

Some of the reasons behind the failure of the standardized test batteries to measure many of the Indian children were thought to be:

In order to alleviate these difficulties as far as possible, the following revisions of the tests were made (see Note 2).

The experimental test battery which was finally evolved contained the following tests:

The teachers who were to give the tests were carefully briefed on the procedures involved in administering the tests well in advance. The tests were given in the schoolrooms during the first period of each day for a five-day period (story problems and arithmetic computation were given on the same day).

The test battery was first given in April, 1959. All of the students, both Indian and non-Indian, in the high school, junior high school, and three elementary schools on the west side of the Uintah School District in eastern Utah were tested. The tests were taken to the Division of Testing and Research of the Counseling Center, University of Utah, for scoring and analysis. The analysis of this first year's data was the subject of Elsie S. Shults' M.S. thesis "A Comparison of the Performance of Ute Indian and White Children on Verbal and Non-Verbal Tests" (see Number 1 in bibliography).

Since the purpose of this research program was to investigate the performance of Ute children in the local schools, it was decided that the performance of non-Indian children in these same schools would be used as the criterion.

Graphs were made showing the average per cent of right answers for each grade for each test for both the Indian and non-Indian populations. These average per cents were computed by arriving at the mean for each grade for each test and then dividing this mean by the number of items on the test. These graphs are presented below:

These graphs are interesting for a number of reasons. First, they support other data cited, for example, in Vol. 1, No. 1, of this journal (see Number 2 in bibliography) and in "The Indian Child Goes to School" (see Number 3 in bibliography) in that they show that the Indian children achieve at a lower level than their non-Indian peers. The graphs also support other studies which show that the gap between Indian and non-Indian achievement becomes greater as the groups move through the public schools. Finally, the graphs support the finding that the Indian children's achievement curve is of essentially the same form as the non-Indian.

In addition to supporting other studies, the graphs point up some facts about the development of skills in the tool-subjects in the public schools that are not so well known. These graphs closely resemble those cited by Pressey and Robinson (see Number 4 in bibliography) and show that by far the most striking progress in the tool subjects is made in the first six to eight grades. As Pressey and Robinson suggest in regard to English composition, "such slight further gains as appear thereafter may conceivably be the result more of poorer students leaving school than of English instruction in high school and college." And further, "Everything considered, the curves suggest the possibility that the mechanics of English composition may, like handwriting and arithmetic, be handled entirely in the first eight or nine grades." The data from the present study clearly support this conclusion.

A final point of interest in the analysis of these graphs is the fact that the Indian children come to the first grade of the public schools with a disadvantage in every one of the areas measured. This is perhaps to be expected in the areas demanding the use of the English Language. The greatest disadvantage is not, however, in the areas of reading and vocabulary. It is in the relatively non-verbal area of picture reasoning and arithmetic story problems. At any rate, it is clear that the Ute children do not begin with the same preparation, nor do they, as is sometimes claimed, keep up with their non-Indian peers through the first three, four, or six grades.

This study was undertaken to investigate a twofold problem: first, is it possible to assemble a test battery that will more adequately measure the achievement in the academic tool subjects of all of the Ute Indian students through all of the grades of the Uintah District public schools? Second, what will such a battery reveal about Ute Indian achievement

The analysis of the test data shows the Ute Indian students beginning in the first grade with a disadvantage in all skills. This disadvantage becomes larger as the children move through the public schools. Indians and non-Indians alike show a sharp decrease in gains in the academic tool subjects after the sixth to the eighth grade.

Finally, it seems important to point out that this program illustrates some of the advantages of the use of test batteries assembled at the local level to fit local needs and analyzed through the use of local norms.