Volume 22 Number 3
May 1983

Patrick B. Scott

ORTIZ FRANCO (1980) has pointed out that the "bulk of the mathematics education research literature during the last two decades (1960-1980) has largely stayed away from addressing the concerns related to the mathematics education of minorities. "In a paper to a conference on Equity in Mathematics sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Claudette Bradley (1982) reviewed the literature on American Indian achievement in mathematics that suggested causes for low achievement. She apparently, however, found no research studies that compared closely the specific content subareas in which there might be achievement differences between American Indians and their Anglo counterparts. This paper reports a preliminary study of possible differences in the performance in mathematics between American Indian Pueblo and Anglo students entering a teacher training program. For the purposes of this study Anglo was defined informally as it tends to be used popularly in the Southwest: someone of the main stream culture who is of non-Indian and non-Hispanic descent.

The Department of Elementary Education at the University of New Mexico as a subcontractor with the All Indian Pueblo Council has been training Pueblo Indians for certification as elementary teachers in a special field-based Bachelor’s Degree program funded by Title IV since the early seventies. Between fall of 1977 and Spring of 1981 ninety-five Pueblo students took Form B of the College Qualification Tests (CQT) (1956) as part of the admissions process to the program. During that same period 345 Anglo-surnamed students took the same examination for admission to the regular on-campus program. Although the test is obviously dated, in terms of mathematics many of the basic concepts are constant and it was felt that performance results from the mathematics subtest would provide some initial clues to the differences between Pueblo and Anglo mathematics performance and that inferences could be made to differences in learning.

A subsamplc of sixty-five Pueblos was chosen that excluded those who scored the highest and the lowest. A subsample of fifty-nine Anglos was selected that had the same group mean and standard deviation on the mathematics subtest as did the Pueblo subsample. By looking at the achievement of the two subsamples on each of the fifty items it was found that the Pueblo subgroup did significantly better (.05 level) on eight of the items, the Anglo subgroup did significantly better (.05 level) on thirteen of the items. There was no significant difference on twenty-nine of the items.

If the mathematics subtest is broken down into the content subareas of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and measurement some interesting patterns begin to emerge. Table I shows the number of items in each of four content subareas in which each group did significantly better than the other.

TABLE I
Number of Items in Which There Are Significant Differences between
Subgroups by Content Areas

In Table I it can be seen that Anglo students did significantly better than Pueblo students on seven of the thirteen arithmetic items, while Pueblo students did significantly better than Anglo students on two of the eight measurement items. Results in algebra and geometry were mixed. In the six other arithmetic items on the test the tendency was for Anglo students to score higher. In four of the six remaining measurement items the Pueblo students tended to score higher.

To further analyze intergroup differences between the Pueblo and Anglo subgroups total scores were calculated for each individual in each of the content areas of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and measurement. When the subgroup means were compared it was found that the Anglos did significantly better (.0001 level) on arithmetic and that the Pueblos did significantly better (.002 level) on measurement. The subgroup means were very similar for algebra and geometry, but Anglos did score slightly higher on algebra and Pueblos slightly higher on geometry.

It is felt that caution should be taken in drawing conclusions from the results described above. The CQT math subtest is not believed to be the most appropriate instrument for determining the mathematical knowledge and understanding of students entering elementary teacher training programs, but a large sample was available. In further studies such characteristics as past mathematical course work, the level of English literacy, and off-reservation experiences of the Pueblos could be considered.

The principal conclusion to be drawn appears to be that Anglos score higher on arithmetic while Pueblos score higher on measurement. It may be noted that the arithmetic items are highly symbolic and can be done by rote manipulation devoid of any real world context. The measurement items, however, appear to relate more to real world experience. Perhaps a useful pedagogical hint in providing basic mathematics instruction to Pueblo groups would be to relate computational skill development to real world situations such as those involving measurement. It is also imperative that the Anglo students have an opportunity to develop mathematical skills that involve more than just rote computations if they are to be effective elementary teachers.

1. Bradley, Claudette, "Native Americans in Mathematics," Paper presented to the Equity in Mathematics Core Conference, Reston, VA, February, 1982.

2. College Qualification Tests (Form B), The Psychological Corporation, New York, 1956.

3. Ortiz Franco, Luis, "Salient Issues in Mathematics Education Research for Minorities," April, 1981, p. 1. ERIC #ED191699

Patrick (Rick) B. Scott is an Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of New Mexico with a special interest in Mathematics Education. He was the first Director of the Zuni/Navajo Title VII MA Program and is currently Academic, Coordinator of the All Indian Pueblo Council Teacher Training Program.