Journal of American Indian EducationVolume 15 Number 3
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USING THE "KUDER E" WITH CHOCTAW STUDENTS Barbara G. Spencer, Ernest Boudreaux, and John Mullins Barbara G, Spencer is Researcher and Evaluator, Dr. Ernest Boudreaux is Director, and John Mullins is Cooperative Education Coordinator for the Choctaw Career Education Program in Philadelphia, Mississippi, which is under the aegis of Mississippi State University’s Social Science Research Center, Mississippi State, 39762. Students attending Indian schools on rural reservations have little exposure to the range of occupational opportunities that exist for them both on and off the reservation. A study of Choctaw high school students in east central Mississippi in the spring of 1973 (see References 1 and 2) revealed that the students: (1) aspired to a narrow range of occupations (primarily those that had been attained by other Choctaws); (2) rarely received vocational advice from meaningful adults in their lives; and (3) had few role models. Both BIA and tribal education leaders recognized the need to develop a guidance and educational program to prepare Choctaw youth for the world of work. With funding under Title IV of the Indian Education Act, the Choctaw Career--Education Program was initiated in 1974. One of the first objectives adopted by the program was the development of a career testing component to provide information needed for counseling students and for planning needed changes in the school curriculum. In addition to the problem of possible cultural bias of existing tests, it was recognized that the students might lack requisite language skills. Only 12 in 100 Choctaw families speak English as often as their own language and only 7 in 100 families speak English predominantly in their homes (see Reference 3). In the high school, student scores on the California Achievement Test ranged from 6.8 grade reading level for ninth graders to 9.5 grade reading level for twelfth graders. The Kuder E General Interest Survey, a revised version of the Kuder Preference Record (Form C), was designed to extend the use of the Kuder downward to the junior high level. The Kuder E is recommended for grades 7-12 and is written at a sixth-grade reading level. Because of its low vocabulary level and apparent successful use of earlier forms of the Kuder with other Indian groups (see References 4 and 5) the Kuder E was selected for use in the career testing program (see Reference 6). Results of Kuder Testing The Kuder E was administered during the Spring semester, 1974, to 86% of all students enrolled in grades 7-12. Scheduling problems and absenteeism prevented the testing of the remaining students. Using the Verification ("V") scale (see Reference 7) as an index of reliability, it was found that the results were increasingly unreliable with each descending grade level (see Table 1). Questionable "V" scores were obtained for 63% of the students tested in grades 7-9 and 25% of the students tested in grades 10-12. The highest percentage of acceptable scores was obtained for senior students (79%). Results of Kuder E Testing of Choctaw Students, Grades 7-12
The relationship between grade level and proportion of unacceptable "V" scores appears to indicate that level of language proficiency influenced the test results. (It is not known to what extent cultural bias of items may have affected the test results. Kirk (see Reference 8) and Husek (see Reference 9) have asserted that there is a "middle-class" bias to some of the items.) Support for this conclusion was obtained from other test data. In particular, it was found that 60% of the students in grades 10 and 11 who had unacceptable "V" scores and had been tested with the WRS (see Reference 6) fell below the established literacy cutoff scores. Test data indicate that although the instrument yielded acceptable scores for a majority of Choctaw students in grades 10-12, only a small proportion of students in grades 7-9 were successfully tested. These findings suggest that caution should govern the use of the Kuder E with students who have language and reading difficulties, particularly on the junior high level. For purposes of analysis of the students’ general and vocational interests, only the test results showing acceptable "Y" scores for students in grades 10-12 were examined. A total of 86 acceptable inventories were analyzed, representing 47 males and 39 females. Interpretation of Results General, rather than specific, interpretations of Kuder percentiles are recommended by the Kuder manual. For example, a percentile score of 90 on the Mechanical scale and 70 on the Artistic scale indicates that a student, when "faced with a complex series of choices typical of real-life situations . . . chose mechanical activities more frequently than 90% of his contemporaries and artistic activities more frequently than 70% of them" (see Reference 10). In addition, the manual notes that these scores should not be construed as indicating a stronger interest by the subject in mechanical than in artistic activities. For analysis of the Choctaw data, the three highest percentile scores of each student were examined. By examining the three highest rather than the single highest score, it was believed that a more accurate picture of the interests of the students would be obtained. Table 2 summarizes the Kuder areas in which the students had their highest percentile scores. Kuder Interest Areas Showing the Highest Percentile Scores of Choctaw High School Students
a As students are represented in the three interest areas in which they had their highest percentile scores, columns total 300%.Analysis of the results for the total group showed that the scores of Choctaw students were highest on the social service, artistic, clerical and musical scales. Similarities and variations in interests emerged when the data were cross-tabulated by sex (see Table 2). Social service surfaced as the most consistent area of interest to both males and females (70% and 46%, respectively). A second mutual interest was in the area of clerical activities--for 46% of the females and 32% of the males. Significantly more males showed interest, however, in artistic and musical activities, and more females appear to be interested in outdoor activities. While no male students had their highest scores on the scientific scale and few showed a strong interest in persuasive or computational activities, significant proportions of females did. A comparison was made of the findings of Choctaw study with Kuder results obtained for two other Indian groups in previous studies. While similarities were apparent in their artistic and clerical interests, another Indian group studied showed low career interest in social service (see Reference 4). American Indian students enrolled in Arizona State University showed similar high interests in clerical, social service, and artistic activities, but were dissimilar in that males exhibited a strong interest in the scientific area and low interest in the clerical area (see Reference 5). Local Implications A number of career education implications may be deduced from the Kuder findings. A pronounced interest in social service activities was evidenced by both males and females. An earlier study of the occupational aspirations of Choctaw students (see References 1 and 2) showed that the role of teacher was aspired to by 18% of the students, and that of other social-oriented occupations, such as nurse, physician, social worker, and clergyman were named by an additional 17% of the students. None of the students, however, aspired to be school administrators, guidance counselors, or tribal program administrators. In view of the need for American Indians qualified to serve as administrators and social service professionals in tribal and BIA programs, it is obvious that the career program should seek to broaden student awareness of the full range of human service-related occupational opportunities. The relatively high interest of both males and females in clerical activities illustrates that the business and office aspects of administrative and human service positions would be a positive rather than a negative factor for many students. Second, the high artistic interests of Choctaw males served to underscore a basic deficiency in the local Indian school system--the lack of art and crafts instruction in the curriculum. Career exploration and preparation in such areas as commercial art, graphic arts, and audiovisual production would appear to be appropriate to the career and personal interests and needs of a substantial proportion of the student population. A third implication is the need to include orientation and work experience related to occupations which keep a person outdoors for part or most of the time, e.g., a recreation director or worker, youth worker, social worker, forester, or horticulturalist. Fourth, the relatively low proportion of students who showed preference for mechanical activities appears to indicate that the students are less oriented to objects and machines than they are to people. Although additional data should be sought, the advisability of developing a costly vocational training program in the high school appears questionable. General Implications The Choctaw testing experience suggests, with respect to the testing situation itself, that some modifications of testing procedures may be indicated in working with bicultural students. First, with reference to the Kuder and other tests which are not timed or competitive, the reading aloud of items may assist students who have better verbal than reading skills. This procedure should also serve to elicit more questions from students who have difficulty with certain concepts. Second, individual rather than group counseling is desirable when interpreting the test results. Questions regarding the meaning of the test scores which may not surface in a group situation are more likely to be raised and satisfactorily dealt with on an individual level. Finally, educational planners and counselors of Indian youth should avoid reliance on a single data source which may be characterized by cultural and environmental bias. Until more information is available regarding the validity and reliability of tests with specific minorities, caution should govern the use and interpretation of tests standardized on the general population. References 1. Spencer, Barbara G., Gerald 0. Windham, and John H. Peterson Jr., "Occupational Orientations of an American Indian Group," in J. Steven Picou and Robert E. Campbell, Eds., Career Behavior of Special Groups. (Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Pub. Co.), 1975, pp. 199-219. 2. Spencer, Barbara G., "Study of Occupational Aspirations and Expectations of Choctaw High School Students." BIA Education Research Bulletin 3 (3): 1-3, 1975. 3. Spencer, Barbara G., John H. Peterson Jr., and Choong S. Kim, Choctaw Manpower and Demographic Survey. (Philadelphia, Ms.: Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.) 1975. 4. Ross, W. T. and G. V. Ross, "Backgrounds of Vocational Choice: An Apache Study, Mescalero Reservation," Personnel and Guidance Journal, 35:270-75, 1957. 5. Abrahams, Ina, "Vocational Interest of Selected Indian College Students as Measured by the Kuder Preference Record," Journal of American Indian Education, 2 (1):20-24, 1962. 6. Other tests selected for the program included the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) developed by the U. S. Employment Service; its non-reading counterpart, the Non-Reading Aptitude Test Battery (NATB); and the Wide-Range Scale (WRS). The WRS is recommended by USTES as a literacy screening device and was used to identify students who should be given the NATB in lieu of the GATB. 7. The Verification scale ("V") was developed by Kuder to indicate whether subjects respond to items with understanding and sincerity. 8. Kirk, Barbara A., "Kuder General Interest Survey (review)," in O. K. Buros, Ed., The Seventh Mental Measurements Yearbook, Vol. 11. (Highland Park, N. J.: Gryphon Press, 1972), pp. 1421-23. 9. Husek, T. R., "Kuder General Interest Survey Form E," Journal of Educational Measurement, 2 (2):231-33, 1965. 10. Kuder, G. Frederick, Kuder E General Interest Survey Manual. (Chicago: Science Research Associates, Inc., 1964.) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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