PRESERVICE TEACHERS' ACHIEVEMENT IN THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EVALUATION INSTRUMENT (TEST, TEXAS, COMPREHENSION)

Purposes. This study described Texas preservice elementary teachers, investigated their achievement and deficiencies in the Essential Elements of Elementary School Mathematics, and explored the relationship between this achievement and certain background variables.;Major Findings. (1) Description of the preservice teacher population. Of the 338 subjects who completed the questionnaire items, 89% were female, 66% were Caucasian, 6% Black, and 27% Hispanic. Sixty-nine percent had completed at least a minimum of college preparatory high school mathematics program, but only 52% had reached the level of college algebra in college mathematics. Most (91%) professed some level of mathematics anxiety. (2) Achievement and Deficiencies in the Essential Elements of Elementary Mathematics. The test mean for 340 subjects was 26.4 (53%). Difficult concepts included common fractions, decimal fractions, percentage, least common multiple, greatest common factor, area, volume, geometry, probability, and statistics. Analysis of incorrect answers indicated a tendency to apply rules mechanically. (3) Relationships among the variables. For the 320 subjects for whom all information was available, the test mean was 26.8, standard deviation, 8.1. Parents' Education, Ability/Attitude, and Mathematics Background were all significantly positively correlated with the Test Score. In a simultaneous multiple regression, significant proportions of the variance of the dependent variable were related to Ethnicity, Mathematics Background, and Ability/Attitude. No significant differences in achievement by gender were discovered.;Conclusions. The typical Texas preservice elementary teacher may be described as a Caucasian female with the minimum college preparatory high school mathematics background and very little college mathematics, except for the mathematics courses designed for elementary education majors. Although she considers herself about average in mathematics ability, she admits to considerable mathematics anxiety.;The need for improvement in the mathematics achievement of prospective elementary teachers continues. Education programs should be designed to emphasize understanding and alleviate mathematics anxiety.;Procedures. The 50-item Essential Elements of Elementary Mathematics Test and the Preservice Teacher Questionnaire were developed and administered to preservice elementary teachers in seven Texas teacher education institutions. Information from the questionnaire provided scores for the variables of Gender, Ethnicity, Parents' Education, Mathematics Background, Teacher Education Mathematics, Ability/Attitude, and Grade Preference. Test results were analyzed and multiple regression analyses were performed.