Robert L. Armstrong

In the Spring of 1969 the Student Activities Evaluation Instrument, developed by the writer, was administered to the secondary level students at Phoenix Indian High School. Prior to this, the same instrument had been administered to three public high schools in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The purpose was to make comparisons in the pattern of participation in student activities between Indian students and public school students. In particular, the following questions were used as guidelines for the study:

Phoenix Indian High School appeared to be an appropriate source of information for these questions. Located in the heart of metropolitan Phoenix, the students are subject to the same urban atmosphere and the same sources of entertainment and recreation as are their public school counterparts. Further, PIHS is a North Central Association accredited school, offering class and extra-class programs similar to the public schools that were studied. On the other hand, the students are non-residents of Phoenix and their reactions and responses to the student activity program would be conditioned by their home backgrounds on the reservations.

The instrument was administered, by means of a questionnaire, to all students who were present in class on the day of administration. On the questionnaire the student designated his class (freshman, sophomore, etc.) and his grade-point average. By reference to a page listing all school activities (numerically designated for key-punch conversion) the student then selected those activities, if any, in which he was involved. For each activity so selected the student designated his degree of perceived self-involvement in that activity, according to a five point scale, and the value that he perceived that the activity held for him, also on a five point scale. All responses were converted to key-punch cards for computer analysis.

Answers to the above questions were sought by statistical tests. The phi coefficient was used for the first question and statistical significance was found by converting the phi to a chi-square. For the remaining questions a difference of means was used, with statistical significance established by use of the t-test.

The findings of the study are presented by question number (see earlier section) for the convenience of the reader.

No. 1: The following grid, used in calculating the phi-coefficient, exhibits the number of involved and uninvolved students in the public schools and in Phoenix Indian High School:

= 29.325

This chi-square is significant well beyond the .0.1 level of confidence. Hence it is possible to say with a high degree of confidence that a higher proportion of the students at Phoenix Indian School were involved in student activities than were the students in the three public schools.

A further check into involvement revealed the following percentage of students involved in the indicated categories:

It can be seen that the major portion of the greater involvement in PIHS was in clubs, and in particular, the hobby-recreational type clubs.

No. 2: Calculation of average activity involvement for active students revealed that

where M_p is the average number of activities in which each active public school student participated, and M_i is the equivalent for PIHS. The standard error was found to be

V_e = .10

then, t = 3.3

This value of t indicates significance well beyond the .01 level of confidence. Therefore, it can be said with a high degree of confidence that the active students at PIHS were more deeply involved in activities than were their counterparts in the public schools.

No. 3. On a scale of 1 down to 5 for perceived self-involvement the students of both PIHS and the public schools had an average of 2.14. Hence, there appeared to be no difference in perceived self-involvement.

No. 4: On a scale of 1 down to 5 for perceived value the average for Phoenix Indian School students was 1.92 and for public school students was 1.95. The difference between them was not statistically significant. Therefore, although the average for the Indian School students was slightly higher, it could not be said with confidence that they viewed their activities as of any greater value than did the public school students.

No. 5: The indicated correlations were significantly different in the three following areas:

In each case the difference was significant at the .01 level of confidence.

No. 6: The following grade-point averages were found for active and non-active students (I - A, 2 - B, etc.):

The difference of .4 of a grade-point for public school students was significant at the .01 level of confidence. The difference of .1 of a grade-point for PIHS was not significant at the .05 level of confidence. The difference of differences of .3 of a grade-point was significant at the .01 level of confidence. Therefore, it can be said with a high degree of confidence that, on the criteria of grade-point, the public school students that participated in student activities were different from those that did not, while in Phoenix Indian School this difference was not evident. It appears on this evidence that the students at PIHS involved in activities were somewhat different than their public school counterparts in activities.

The findings of this study indicated that a larger proportion of the students at Phoenix Indian High School were involved in student activities than in the public schools studied, and that the bulk of the additional involved students were in hobby-recreational activities. Further, the active students were involved in a greater average number of activities.

Although the Indian students did not appear to perceive themselves as more deeply involved than the public school students, and did not view their activities as being more valuable, they did evidence a closer correlation between perceived value and perceived self-involvement in the areas of student government, hobby-recreational clubs and fine arts. Comparison by grade-point average indicated that active and nonactive students in Phoenix Indian School were essentially the same type of students, while in the public schools they were essentially different, and that the difference between schools was significant.

In the light of these findings, and in awareness of the situation under which the study was conducted, the following tentative conclusions are suggested:

Indian students appear to be more realistic in their attitude toward activities. They appear to perceive a greater value in hobby or recreational activities than do the public school students. They appear to have a greater desire to become involved and do so in more activities. There appears to be less status conditioning in activity involvement, hence a greater amount of involvement for sheer pleasure or perceived value.

If there is genuine educational value in student activities, if the extra-class program is an integral part of the curriculum and not an appendage, it then appears there is a great potential for the educational development of Indian students in the student activity programs of the schools. No effort should be spared in developing realistic systems of objectives and in broadening the existing programs to include even more of the Indian students in what may be for them the most valuable part of the school program.