ABSTRACT

A COMPARISON OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN BILINGUAL CLASSROOMS TAUGHT BY HISPANIC VERSUS NON-HISPANIC TEACHERS

Research indicated that the Hispanic student has attended the educational institution with clear differences from non-Hispanic students. Factors such as the financial status of the family, language barriers, motivation, machismo, and time factors were all aspects of the "whole" Hispanic child. Research also documented the high dropout rate and academic difficulties some Hispanic students experience in the public school setting. With these factors in mind, this study analyzed the differences between teachers of Hispanic descent and those of non-Hispanic descent by measuring Hispanic student academic achievement in a bilingual classroom setting.

During the 1997-1998 school year, measurement of student achievement was accomplished by administering two instruments. First, the Stanford Achievement Test 9 was administered at the third grade level in the skill areas of reading, mathematics, and language arts. Second, a student survey by the National Study of School Evaluation was administered at the third grade level to determine student perceptions of the classroom, school, teachers, and their education. The instruments were administered to bilingual third grade students

within eight classrooms in five elementary schools. Four classrooms were instructed by Hispanic teachers and four by non-Hispanic teachers. The participating schools were part of the Roosevelt School District #66 located in South Phoenix, Arizona.

In the area of language arts on the Stanford Achievement Test 9, students with Hispanic teachers did attain a greater score than those students instructed by non-Hispanic teachers. There were no significant differences for reading and mathematics.

Although there were no significant differences for the National Study of School Evaluation survey, the students of the non-Hispanic instructors were in greater agreement with nine of the survey questions: "We use fun games to learn at school"; "Teachers help me after school"; "We have good school spirit"; "All students are treated fairly at our school"; "if we get in trouble we are treated fairly"; "Cheating does not happen very often at our school"; "I feel safe when I come to school"; "Parents feel welcome in our school"; and "We help plan school activities."

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The United States of America offers a great deal of opportunity for the American people. This opportunity is seen in many areas of society. Through the efforts of many great leaders, the United States is moving toward a greater acceptance of a multicultural society. This transformation process is also occurring within the public education system. The evidence is most noticeable with the increase of Limited English Speaking (LEP) students entering the public school setting. Between 1985 to 1992 the enrollment of limited English proficiency students was more than 2.5 million (Willis, 1994).

While the world is getting smaller through the technological advancements in communications, the United States population continues to grow. Between the years of 1969 to 1980 the U.S. population grew by 11 %. Within this time span the growth of the Hispanic population was 61 % (Hodgkinson, 1985). This increase has been substantial and has impacted many areas of society, especially the public school systems.

Some Hispanic students relocating from other countries entered the United States public schools with little or no exposure to formal education. These Hispanic students either could not speak English or were limited English speakers. The challenges presented, along with the fact that 40% of the population live in poverty (Carter & Wilson, 1991), have placed Hispanic children at risk. This risk factor became a reality in Arizona in 1994; of the entire student population, 27.1 % was Hispanic. Of this Hispanic student population, 12.8% dropped out (White, 1993-94). In 1997, the Phoenix Union High School District, located in Phoenix, Arizona, reported a composite Hispanic male student dropout rate of 36.9% with Hispanic females at the second highest rate of 28.5% (Malin, 1997). The loss of the inherent capacity of human growth has been devastating to any society. Banks (1991) stated,

One important implication of these demographic trends is that education

in the twenty-first century must help low-income students and students of

color to develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to

participate in the work force and in society. (p. 51)

There is concern for the United States public school system and the students' academic achievement. The basis of concern is whether the public education institutions are operating in an efficient manner. Some people agree that it is important to educate all children. The pertinent question remaining is how to educate all children successfully.

The success of all children in the public school setting is important; however, it has been unclear what methods, single or cooperative, have enhanced student performance. Robinson (1985) stated that no single factor could account for school success. This lack of clarity created a paradigm where further pursuit was necessary in order to gain greater insight toward the enhancement of educational strategies in classroom instruction.

The loss of human potential, especially within the largest growing ethnic population in the United States, has been viewed by some as critical. The Hispanic group has been rapidly moving into this status. Gibson and Ogbu (1991 ) found that the Hispanic population was the least educated population group in the United States. Carter and Wilson (1991) also explained that Hispanics were less likely to graduate from high school, enroll in college, and receive a college degree.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the differences between Hispanic teachers and those of non-Hispanic background on the Hispanic students' academic achievement in a bilingual classroom setting. This research sought to identify factors that could be linked to Hispanic students' academic success.

This study investigated the variances of student achievement in a third grade bilingual, bicultural classroom environment, between Hispanic teachers and those teachers of a non-Hispanic background. Specifically, this study sought to identify differences between students taught by Hispanic teachers and those taught by non-Hispanic teachers with regard to the following skill areas:

Students who were instructed by teachers of culturally diverse backgrounds will earn higher academic achievement scores than those students instructed by non-Hispanic teachers.

There will be no statistically significant difference on any of the following measures between students instructed by teachers of Hispanic descent and those instructed by teachers of non-Hispanic descent:

• Stanford Achievement Test 9 (SAT 9)

1. Reading

2. Mathematics

3. Language arts

There will be at least one statistically significant difference on the following measures between students instructed by teachers of Hispanic descent and those instructed by teachers of non-Hispanic descent:

• Stanford Achievement Test 9

1. Reading

2. Mathematics

3. Language arts

There will be no statistically significant difference on any of the following measures between students instructed by teachers of Hispanic descent and those instructed by teachers of non-Hispanic descent:

• National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE)

1. Quality of instructional program

2. Support for student learning

3. School climate and environment for learning

4. Student activities/involvement in school

There will be at least one statistically significant difference on the following measures between students instructed by teachers of Hispanic descent and those instructed by teachers of non-Hispanic descent.

• National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE)

1. Quality of instructional program

2. Support for student learning

3. School climate and environment for learning

4. Student activities/involvement in school

1. Culturally diverse background: Individuals who were of Hispanic nationality.

2. Non-Hispanic Teachers: Teachers who were not of Hispanic origin.

3. Bilingual classroom settings (as identified by the Roosevelt School District #66): Classrooms where students were identified as limited English proficiency. These students were placed in these settings if their predominant home language was Spanish and if they were tested using the Language Assessment Scale (LAS) and found to be lacking skills in the English language.

4. Bilingual student. Students who spoke English and Spanish.

5. Mexican: Students from the country of Mexico.

6. Independent variable: The ethnicity of the teacher.

7. Subgroup # 1: Students taught by Hispanic teachers.

8. Subgroup #2: Students taught by other than Hispanic teachers.

9. Dependent variables: There were three possible interrelated "correlated" or collinear dependent variables:

• Reading
• Mathematics
• Language arts

10. SAT 9: Stanford Achievement Test 9

11. NSSE. National Study of School Evaluation

12. SAT 9 composite score: A composite of test scores that included reading, mathematics, and language arts.

13. NSSE composite score: A composite of test scores that included quality of instructional programming, support for student learning, school climate/environment for learning, and student active involvement in school.

The following delimitations were established for this investigation:

Size of sample: This study examined bilingual classrooms from schools with a kindergarten through third grade and kindergarten through eighth grade student population.

Geographic area: This study was limited to the Roosevelt School District #66, located in South Phoenix, Arizona. The schools within South Phoenix have been identified as low socioeconomic schools as prescribed by the United States Federal Government.

Time delimiter: This study was conducted during the 1997-1998 academic school year.

Researcher: By intent the researcher is aware of possible biases, but it was not part of the study, nor was it racially motivated.

Teacher selection on a random basis: Teachers who participated in this study were third grade teachers and were selected through a volunteer process.

Student ability levels: No pretest scores or data were available or used in this study to determine students' past achievement level. Students were measured using the present data available.

Educating the child is a process which takes a great deal of care and consideration. Cultural awareness is essential to the educational process of the culturally diverse child. Johnson and Walden (1993) confirmed this importance and identified three steps in creating a classroom environment that is culturally friendly when relating to the child's culture: awareness, knowledge, and action. Johnson and Walden viewed awareness as the creation of a greater understanding of other cultures through the enhancement of one's own culture. Once this was accomplished, knowledge of other cultures was important. Finally, the classroom actions must accommodate the new awareness. Through these understandings the teacher could gain a greater perception into the child's feelings toward school and learning.

This study provided an opportunity for educators to examine the perceptions and understandings of Hispanic students in a bilingual classroom setting and their relationship to their teacher. The results and findings offered beneficial insight of how Hispanic children viewed the school, community, and their role in the educational process. Through this insight the teacher can focus the classroom curriculum and instruction to enhance the learning, academic, and social success of the child.

This chapter includes the introduction, purpose of the study, statement of the problem, hypotheses, definition of terms, delimitations, limitations, and significance of the study. Chapter 2, the review of the literature, includes a review of multicultural education, variances in the academic achievement among students of color, and teaching to the Hispanic student. Chapter 3 presents the methodology of the study, including a restatement of the problem, research design, population and sample identification, instrumentation, reliability and validity assessment, data collection procedures, and data analysis procedures.

Chapter 4 reports the findings of the research as a result of the analysis of the data generated from the study. This chapter begins with a brief introduction, the restatement of the hypotheses, an overview of the population and sample identification, the instrumentation, and a summary of the research findings.

Data were collected through the acquisition of SAT 9 results and NSSE student survey questionnaires. Throughout the analysis the researcher organized the data and applied a coding procedure. Data were compiled and analyzed to test the hypotheses. Included in the presentation of findings, tables were presented to enhance the reader's perception and interpretation of the related results. Chapter 5 contains the conclusions, recommendations, and implications of the study.