Productivity and mathematics achievement and attitudes among African-Americans: Testing Walberg's model

This study was designed to determine whether the strength of the relationship of Walberg's Educational Productivity Factors with mathematics achievement and attitudes regarding mathematics differed between African-American students and students of other ethnic backgrounds. Using secondary data analysis and longitudinal data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), the study first examined whether there were differences between African-American students and Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Native American, and White students in mathematics achievement and attitude, as well as on the Productivity Factors, as they progressed from eighth grade through secondary school. Second, the study determined whether the Educational Productivity Factors were related to achievement and attitude. Third, the study examined whether there were differences in achievement and attitude between African-American students and students of the other ethnic groups, once the differences in the Productivity Factors were controlled. Finally, the study determined whether the influences of the Productivity Factors were the same for African-American students and for students of the other ethnic groups. The statistical analyses used in the present study include: reliability analysis, correlational analyses, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multiple linear regression analyses.;Other findings of the present research include: (1) students' Mathematics Achievement Outcomes were influenced by ten of the fourteen independent variables, namely Prior Mathematics Achievement, Quantity of Instruction, Self Concept, Quality of Instruction, Parental Aspirations, Expectancy of Success, Peer Influences, Family Income, Amount of Reading Done Outside of School, and School Socioeconomic Status; and (2) students' attitudes regarding mathematics were influenced by Self Concept and Usefulness of Mathematics in the Future.;Despite the fact that most of the factors were measured by self-report data, the results imply that the influence of the Productivity Factors on mathematics achievement and attitude outcomes were no different for African-Americans than for the other ethnic groups. Additionally, the present research suggests that multiple factors have an impact on achievement. Moreover, the results suggest that there is a need to introduce the Productivity Factors early in the academic careers of minority students, particularly African-Americans, in order to diminish the gap in achievement which seem to exist prior to eighth grade and appears to continue through secondary school.;Data from survey and transcript items representing the Productivity Factors and the Ethnic Background variable were collected from 10,001 students who participated in all of the first three waves of the NELS:88 (i.e. eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade cohorts). Major findings of the study include: (1) the Educational Productivity Factors were related to mathematics achievement and attitude outcomes among the entire sample; (2) African-Americans had lower mathematics achievement scores than three of the four other ethnic groups in the study, but more positive attitudes about mathematics than Whites, before and after the Productivity Factors were held constant; and (3) the impact of the Productivity Factors on both mathematics achievement and attitude outcomes were no different for African-Americans than for members of the other ethnic groups.