Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Dean F. Damon
Committee Member
Kathy Hollywood
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
10th-grade students, African American students, algebra, California, California Department of Education, California High School Exit Exam, CAHSEE, course placement, diploma requirements, district-level results, education policy, exit exams, geometry, high school graduation, matched groups, mathematics achievement, mathematics assessment, mathematics curriculum, mathematics scores, mean scores, public schools, state-level results, statistical significance, student performance
Abstract
Beginning with the class of 2004, all students in the state of California must pass the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) to graduate from high school with a diploma. This study sought to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between the mean score of 10th-grade African American students who took an algebra class prior to taking the CAHSEE and the mean score of a matched group of their peers who did not take algebra prior to taking the exam.
Results provided by the California Department of Education showed that at both the state and district level, passing the mathematics section of the CAHSEE has been difficult for African American students. Results from the spring 2001 administration show that 25% of African American students in the state (6,855 out of 27,930) and 24% of African American students in the district (57 out of 235) passed the mathematics section of the exam. Results from the spring 2002 administration show that 20% of the African American students in the state (4,527 out of 22,632) and 13% of the district’s African American students (23 out of 173) passed the mathematics section of the CAHSEE.
Statewide statistics provided by the California Department of Education in the spring of 2001 showed the importance of students having completed an algebra course prior to taking the exam. Of the 35,293 students tested who had completed algebra and were enrolled in geometry, 90% passed the mathematics section of the exam. Of the 10,819 students who had completed algebra, 61% passed, and of the 118,097 students enrolled in algebra at the time of the exam, 49% passed. Conversely, of the 61,537 students who had not taken algebra, only 18% passed.
Public schools in the state of California must assume responsibility for providing all students the opportunity to learn the mathematics curriculum that is assessed on the CAHSEE. Based on the high passing rates of students statewide who are enrolled in upper-level mathematics courses, this research sought to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between the 2003 CAHSEE mathematics mean score for African American students enrolled in algebra and the 2003 CAHSEE mathematics mean score of a matched group of 10th-grade African American students not enrolled in algebra.