MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WHITE AND HISPANIC STUDENTS
LAURIE LANE ENGLISH
Private Educational Consultant, Texas, USA
JOHN R. SLATE *
Sam Houston State University, Texas, USA
STACEY L. EDMONSON
Sam Houston State University, Texas, USA
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
We analyzed 7 years of Grade 11 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Mathematics exit exam scores for White and Hispanic students to ascertain the extent to which economic and ethnic differences were present for the 2004-2005 through the 2010-2011 school years. In all 7 school years, White students who were not economically disadvantaged outscored Hispanic students who were not economically disadvantaged. This achievement gap decreased steadily over the 7 years. Of note in this investigation was that Hispanic students who were economically disadvantaged had higher mathematics scores for all 7 school years than did White students who were economically disadvantaged. Effect sizes ranged from small to moderate. Although the achievement gap between White and Hispanic students was reduced over this time period, more work is needed. Implications for educators and policymakers are provided, along with recommendations for future research.
Keywords: Hispanic; White, mathematics achievement gap, economic status, Texas