A Glimpse at African American Students’ Growth Patterns on Mathematics Achievement Tests

• In Event: Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Engagement and Educational Attainment: African American STEM Students

Abstract

Using longitudinal academic achievement data in mathematics from 913 African American students, the authors conducted a series of growth mixture models to see if different growth patterns exist from Grades 3-6. The best-fitting model for the data shows four different growth patterns and all the students have the same variability in terms of the start value. One class of students has the highest average starting value with a negative grow rate. This means that as time goes on, the mathematics skills of these students decline. The other three classes have the similar growth patterns. Class 4 has the highest starting value as well as the highest growth rate, indicating that they start high and also improve the fastest.

Authors

• Xiulin Mao, University of Maryland

• Chuang Wang, University of North Carolina - Charlotte