Catching up in Math: The Case of Newly-Arrived Cambodian Students in a Texas Intermediate School

1. Catching up in Math: The Case of Newly-Arrived Cambodian Students in a Texas Intermediate School Wayne E. Wright University of Texas, San Antonio

3. ELL students in the United States 5,000,000+ ELLs nationwide Over 80% of ELLs are Spanish-Speaking Texas 94% of ELLs are Spanish-speaking 37,000 ELLs speak languages other than Spanish Represent over 100 different language groups More than the total ELL population in 30 out of the 50 states More than the total ELL populations of Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia combined

4. The Challenge of Catching Up Research has repeatedly shown that ESL students usually require at least 5 years of exposure to academic English to catch up to native-speaker norms. In addition to internalizing increasingly complex academic language, ESL students must catch up to a moving target. Every year, native-speakers are making large gains in their reading and writing abilities and in their knowledge of vocabulary. In order to catch up to grade norms within 6 years, ESL students must make 15 months� gain in every 10-month school year. (Cummins, 2003)

5. No Child Left Behind (NCLB)and Texas Mandates for ELLs ELLs must take the state�s high-stakes test Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Students may be assessed in their native language for up to the first five years Most states only have tests in English Some states also have Spanish Few states have tests in any other languages Overwhelming majority of Non-Spanish ELLs take the same English-only test as their English-fluent peers

6. Testing Accommodations for ELLs Newly arrived ELLs may be exempted from the English reading test the first year But, newly arrived ELLs must take the state�s math test ELL must be provided with �reasonable accommodations� Texas � Linguistically Accommodated Test (LAT) Math Set of procedures for test administration, rather than a different test Reality Little research on how ELL students can be accommodated Thus newly arrived non-Spanish speaking ELLs are required to take (and expected to pass) the same test as English-fluent students with little to no accommodations

7. Research Question How reasonable is the expectation that newly arrived non-Spanish-speaking ELLs can catch up to their peers in grade-level math instruction sufficient to pass the TAKS Math test in English?

8. Case of Two Newly-Arrived ELL students from Cambodia Two sisters (Nitha and Bora) placed in 5th grade at a suburban intermediate school in the San Antonio, TX area Students came from poor village in Cambodia (Takeo Province) Girls and their father sponsored to the U.S. by relatives Students arrived in October 2004 (more than 2 months after beginning of school year) Spoke no English whatsoever at time of arrival Placed in mainstream classroom 3 other ELL students in the classroom, but with intermediate to advanced proficiency in English Expected to take and pass the TAKS Math test in English less than 6 months later

9. Site Description Rodgers Intermediate School Medium sized school district 13 schools serving 7,636 K-12 students Fast growing suburb on out-skirts of San Antonio 590 students in grades 5 and 6 White (58%), Hispanic (29%), African American (10%), Asian-Pacific Islanders (2%) Middle-class neighborhood Only 31% free and reduced lunch (compared to 53% state-wide average) ELLs � less than 1% �Academically Acceptable� rating for 2004-2005 school year

10. Participant Description Nitha and Bora Lived with aunt and uncle who sponsored them Spacious two-story home Far cry from thatched hut with no electricity or running water they lived in in Cambodia Both girls attended school in their village and were �top students� in their class Nitha had completed 6th grade Bora had completed 4th grade Both had strong Khmer literacy skills and basic arithmetic skills Neither learned English before arrival to U.S. Both are highly intelligent, are fast learners, and showed a great deal of courage and enthusiasm in adjusting to the strange customs, language, and food in America.

11. Math Instruction for ELLs The Math Myth Math is easy for ELLs because its mostly numbers Reality Research shows that math instruction and math tests have a very high language demand which pose great difficult for ELLs AZ and TX � Many ELLs score lower on Math test than Reading and Writing tests The Language of Math Different than regular spoken and written English For ELLs, Math is a third-language

12. Language of Math Words specific to math Divisor, Dividend, denominator, quotient Common words with have different meanings in math Table, column, row, equal Complex phrases Least common multiple, greatest common denominator, negative exponent Syntax of math is not left-to-right �The square of the sum of A and B� ? (A+B)2

13. Math Texts Conceptually packed Have high density Require left-to-right as well as up-and-down eye movement Must be read more slowly than natural language texts Often require multiple readings Use numerous symbolic devices such as charts and graphs

14. Other Math Challenges for Newly-Arrived ELLS Math instruction in their home countries May have learned different algorithyms for problem solving May use different mathematical notation (e.g., 5,234,232.56 would be written as 5.234.232,56 in Cambodia) Lack of vocabulary and syntax knowledge ELLs don�t know the meaning of many of the words or can�t understand due to complex syntax High correlation between reading and math test Students who read well often do well on math tests. Poor readers do poorly on math tests

15. Other Math Challenges for Newly-Arrived ELLS Math learning must be acrued Must learn and master simpler concepts before you can learn more complex concepts e.g., must learn to add, subtract and multiply before long division Opportunity to learn How much math did students learn in their home country? Some learn more than U.S. Students Others learn much less Thus, already behind U.S. peers as soon as they arrive

16. Education and Math Instruction in Cambodia Cambodian Education System Still recovering from genocide and 2 decades of war Khmer Rouge Period � 1975-1979 Schools shut down Teachers and other educated Cambodians systematically executed Many other died of disease or starvation Many of the survivors fled as refugees and later resettled in Western countries Few educators remained left to help rebuild school system

17. Education and Math Instruction in Cambodia Despite enormous problems, education has greatly improved in Cambodia over the past decade However: Many schools lack water, electricity, bathrooms, or even walls and roofs Average class size 40 to 60 students Most students attend only half day High drop out rates, even among elementary students Especially female students Many elementary teachers have less than a high school diploma 69% of elementary teachers in Takeo province did not graduate from high school Lack of educational materials and supplies Only one basic text book per grade per subject Small, short, poor quality paperback books printed on cheap paper In many schools, only teacher has a copy of the book In some schools, teachers do not have a book

18. Education and Math Instruction in Cambodia Math Instruction in Cambodia Covers mostly basic arithmetic and problem solving Math instruction in Cambodia is far below math concepts taught in equivalent grade-levels in the U.S. Even without the language barrier, Nitha and Bora were already academically far behind their classroom peers in Texas in math instruction Combined with the language barrier, catching up to their grade-level peers was a major challenge

19. Assistance for Nitha and Bora Classroom teacher Differentiated instruction Tried to provide work and activities of similar content but at much lower grade level Obtained and allowed girls to use bilingual Khmer-English dictionaries Encouraged them to write translations of words on their school work Work on classroom computer ESL Teacher Girls received daily pull-out ESL instruction from experienced teacher 3 to 5 days a week, 45 minutes to an hour each day Focused on vocabulary development and basic reading

20. Assistance for Nitha and Bora Individualized instruction with a paraprofessional An aide to the school counselor worked with Nitha and Bora for an 1 to 1� hours a day Classroom teacher prepared activities and lessons Aide provided additional lessons and activities developed on her own �Oral language heaven� Computer Lab Extra time in computer lab Compass Learning Software Self-paced Reading and Math programs

21. Assistance for Nitha and Bora Khmer Primary Language Support Assistance and Tutoring Provided by a community volunteer Professor from local university who speaks Khmer Once a week, 1 hour Classroom teacher (and sometimes ESL teacher) would prepare lessons Cover lessons which teachers and aide found too difficult to teach in English Cover issues of concern from teachers or administrators

22. Focus on Math Given that the girls would have to take the math TAKS test, classroom teacher, aide, computer lab, and Khmer primary language support tutor focused on math instruction Computer lab Started out on Kindergarten level Completed up to beginning of 2nd grade level by end of the school year Math instruction Classroom teacher pulled worksheets from supplemental math books at lower grade levels Started a Kindergarten level Doing some 5th grade-level work by end of the year Most math work was solving simple word problems with basic arithmetic Math concepts Nitha and Bora struggled with and which teacher and aide found too difficult to explain in English saved for the Khmer primary language support tutor Nitha, �When you explain it in Khmer to us, its so easy!�

23. Examples of Student Math Work 2-Digit Addition with Regrouping Adam found 91 small twigs and 29 larger twigs for the campfire. How many twigs did he find all together? 2-Digit Subtraction with Regrouping Jennifer sold 72 candy bars. Patti sold 56 candy bars. How many more candy bars did Jennifer sell? (Subtraction Story Problems, p. 4) 1-Digit by 2-Digit Multiplication Daniel has 3 cases to hold his toy trucks. Each case holds 18 trucks. How many trucks can Daniel store in his cases? (More Multiplication Story Problems, p. 15)

24. Examples of Student Math Work 2-Digit by 1-Digit Division (no remainder) Jason swam 81 laps over a 9-day period. If he swam the same distance every day, how many laps did he swim each day? Money Addition Problems with Decimals (and regrouping) Jaric saw a bottle of shampoo that cost $1.72. He also saw conditioner that cost $1.18. If he purchased both items, what would the sum be? Adding Fractions with Common Denominators Luis used 1/4 cup of paste in one tray and 2/4 cup in the other. How much paste did he use altogether?

25. Math instruction Much of the focus was on helping Nitha and Bora circle the numbers needed for the equation, and identify the clue words which signaled which operation to use Addition - sum, total, in all Subtraction - difference, are left, how many more Worksheets completed Simple sentence structure (syntax) Only number needed for equation given Most only required one operation Most worksheets only focussed on a single operation (addition, subtraction, etc.) Girls discovered the could get right answers without actually reading or understanding the story problem

26. 5th Grade Math Texas Essential Knowledge Skills Within a well-balanced mathematics curriculum, the primary focal points at Grade 5 are comparing and contrasting lengths, area, and volume of geometric shapes and solids; representing and interpreting data in graphs, charts, and tables; and applying whole number operations in a variety of contexts.

27. Difficulty of the 5th Grade Math TAKS Test for Nitha and Bora 44 Questions Questions differed substantially from types of questions Nitha and Bora had been learning to solve i.e., Word problems requiring straight computation to lead to obtain a single # answer Only 6 out of 44 were of this type, but still different as most Required logical reasoning and multiple steps and more than one operation to complete Extra information given which is not needed to solve the problem Rather than single digit answers, students had to select from complex answers which demonstrated mathematical thinking

28. Example of 5th grade Math test item A track team ran 4 miles in 36 minutes. Which shows how to find the number of minutes it would take the track team to run 20 miles? A 36 � 4 = 19, so 9 x 20 = 180 minutes B 4 x 9 = 36, so 9 x 36 = 324 minutes C 36 � 4 = 9, so 4 x 36 = 144 minutes D 4 x 5 = 20, so 5 x 20 = 100 minutes

29. Difficulty of the 5th Grade Math TAKS Test for Nitha and Bora Nearly half (20) of the problems required the use and interpretation of graphs, tables, charts, and illustrations to solve problem Nitha and Bora had little practice with questions of this type TAKS contained concepts and skills beyond what they were able to learn six months before the test

30. Nitha and Bora�s Math Work vs. Grade 5 TAKS Math Test

31. Nitha and Bora�s Math Work vs. Grade 5 TAKS Math Test

32. Nitha and Bora�s Math Work vs. Grade 5 TAKS Math Test

33. Nitha and Bora�s Math Work vs. Grade 5 TAKS Math Test

34. Nitha and Bora�s Math Work vs. Grade 5 TAKS Math Test

35. Difficulty of TAKS TestLinguistic Challenges

36. Difficulty of TAKS TestLinguistic Challenges Linguistic Analysis Web Vocabulary Profiler Words reported in three groups First thousand most common words First 500 function and content words Second 500 content words Second thousand most common words Academic words The 550 words that are frequent in academic texts across subjects

37. Lexical Demands of Student Math Worksheets vs. 5th Grade Math TAKS

38. Difficulty of TAKS TestLinguistic Challenges Demand for specific math vocabulary knowledge in particular, on the Math TAKS test are much higher than those Nitha and Bora encountered on their worksheets Math-specific academic words: digit, rectangular, congruent, parallel, transformation, and diagram and many others Clue words (to signal operation) that Nitha and Bora practiced did not help them on TAKS Only one problem contained similar clue words

39. Clue words � Had (have) left

40. Difficulty of TAKS TestLinguistic Challenges Many questions gave more information than needed to solve problem ex: Bart�s drama club put on a play. There were 843 people in the audience. Each ticket to the play cost $8. The audience was seated in 3 sections. If each section had the same number of people in it, how many people were in each section? Unlike worksheets, Nitha and Bora would really have to be able to read and understand all the words to answer correctly 17 of 44 TAKS questions had answers that contained words rather than only numbers In some problem, students would have to convert a word in the problem to a number in order to get the correct answer. ex: two problems required students to know that dozen = 12 Words with common meanings which may be known to ELLs, but which have different meanings within the math register: Ex: face, table, feet, sum (some), product, fair, volume, figure, point, even, odd, translation, place (as in place value), and ruler

41. Difficulty of TAKS TestLinguistic Challenges 91% of student worksheets questions had simple Subject-Verb-Object sentence structure: Ex: Juan has 10 carrots. Less than 75% of the TAKS questions had Subject-Verb-Object sentence structure TAKS test questions much more syntactically complex than the work Nitha and Bora did in class Ex: �What is the least number of boxes he can buy so that each fifth-grader gets at least 1 ice-cream bar?� Questions with Negation �Which is NOT a way to find how much money Leanne spends on lunches each week?�

43. Students� performance on TAKS Linguistically Accommodated Test � Math TAKS What linguistic accommodations? Same test as everyone else�in English No Khmer translation allowed No Khmer dictionary allowed No Khmer glossary allowed Took test in small group That didn�t help much Teacher could read questions aloud if they asked Didn�t ask (why would they?) Nitha � 6 out of 44; Bora � 7 out of 44 correct Nitha actually the smarter one in math and tried harder than Bora Angry she scored lower than Bora When taking the test, Bora bubbled in 5 bubbles in a row, and yelled out �BINGO!� Student who randomly guessed got higher score than student who actually tried

44. Conclusions Nitha and Bora were bright, hard working students Top students in their home village in Cambodia Rogers Intermediate did everything it could to help Nitha and Bora Differentiated classroom instruction Daily ESL instruction Substantial daily individualized instruction from aide Extra computer lab support Weekly Khmer primary language support �FAILURE: Sometimes your best, just isn�t good enough� Despite bright students and dedicated school doing everything it could, it still wasn�t enough to meet the state�s expectation that Nitha and Bora would pass the 5th grade Math TAKS

45. Conclusions Bush and others To say poor, minority and LEP students cannot perform well on tests is to exhibit the �soft bigotry of low expectations� My response To expect newly arrived LEP students from third world countries with poor education systems to perform on same tests at same level as English-fluent peers exibits the �hard discrimination of unrealistic expectations�

46. Implications NCLB must be made more reasonable for ELL students Math test just as heavy linguistically as reading test Exclusion should be extended to math tests for newly arrived ELLs Policy must be able to account for student�s previous opportunities to learn material on test Can�t just assume they�ve been in US schools since Kindergarten Accommodations don�t work No research to show which ones do Best to simply exlude ELLs until they become proficient in English Use alternative assessments which measure ELLs growth over time Instead of test-prep focus, provide intensive ESL and sheltered content-area instruction instead Once students are proficient in English, can take test without the problem of trying to provide accommodations which don�t really work