| English language learners (ELLs) often find themselves marginalized with respect to learning mathematics in U.S. schools due, in part, to language barriers and gaps in prerequisite math knowledge and skills. The goal of this study was to use Sen's (1980, 1992, 1999) capabilities approach model as a lens through which to analyze the relationship between expanding Hispanic ELL high school students' math ability (what they can achieve through HELP Math, a digital intervention with embedded instructional supports) and students' perceptions of their future possibilities (what they believe they can choose to do and be as a result of improved numeracy). The hypothesis was that this relationship was mediated through students' capabilities set, comprised of math ability and perceived math self-efficacy. A path analysis, with qualitative data nested into the design, was used to analyze the conceptualized relationships. The study was conducted with 50 ninth-and-10th-grade Hispanic students in a Colorado high school, over 6 months. The results demonstrated that HELP Math significantly increased students' capabilities set, and that as students' math ability improved, steep growth in self-efficacy occurred. Seventy-one percent of the total variance for students' perceptions of their future possibilities was explained by the model, with the effect intensified when the variables were combined. Students with the lowest initial math capabilities spent more time using the intervention and showed larger achievement gains than other participants, suggesting an intertwined effect between using a technology-driven intervention, empowerment, math ability, and self-efficacy, as well as showing the potential of digital curricula to empower students to take control of their own learning. The data implied that by embedding targeted scaffolds directly into the digital content, the intervention improved students' capacity to convert resources into capability; however, the variables had a more limited impact on broadening students' perceptions about their ability (personal agency) to influence their future well-being. This study contributes to the literature concerned with operationalizing Sen's capabilities approach, and provides recommendations concerning the importance of the mediating processes and the necessity to match interventions to students' diverse and specific needs, if genuine equality of opportunity (capabilities) can ever be achieved (Sen, 1992).;Key Words: ELL, Math Intervention, Sen's Capabilities Approach, Digital Technology Self-Efficacy, Personal Agency... |
