ETHNIC/RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN MATHEMATICS PERFORMANCE IN THE SAXON MATH PROGRAM
LISA D. SEVERNS
Willis Independent School District, Texas, USA.
JOHN R. SLATE *
Sam Houston State University, Texas, USA.
CYNTHIA MARTINEZ-GARCIA
Sam Houston State University, Texas, USA.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
To determine the relationship between student performance on the Grade 8 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Mathematics test and instruction in Saxon Math, archival assessment data were examined. Assessment data for White students (n = 1652), Black students (n = 117), and Hispanic students (n = 226) who took the TAKS Mathematics exam in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 were analyzed. A statistically significant difference, small effect size, was yielded in the percent of White students who met the TAKS Mathematics Met Standard. Conversely, analysis of TAKS Mathematics assessment data for Black and Hispanic students did not yield any statistically significant differences between students instructed in Saxon Math and students who received no Saxon Math instruction. The percent of Black students who attained Commended Performance declined with each year of Saxon Math instruction. In the analyses of White and Hispanic students’ Commended Performance percentages, statistically significant differences resulted. White students’ Commended Performance percentages were higher for students with one, two, and three years of Saxon Math instruction than White students with no Saxon Math instruction. An analysis of Hispanic students’ Commended Performance scores resulted in a statistically significant increase in Commended Performance attainment by Hispanic students who received one year of Saxon Math instruction as compared to the scores of Hispanic students who received no instruction in Saxon Math. Discussion of outcomes and suggestions for additional research are made.
Keywords: Commended performance, met standard, Saxon math, White, Hispanic, Black, middle schools, math instruction