Monica Gordon Pershey, Ed.D., CCC-SLP Associate Professor, Speech and Hearing Program,

1. African American Students’ Self-Perceptions of School Competence Compared With Achievement in Reading Testing Monica Gordon Pershey, Ed.D., CCC-SLP Associate Professor, Speech and Hearing Program, Department of Health Sciences Cleveland State University Cleveland, OH m.pershey@csuohio.edu Presented at the Professors of Reading Teacher Educators Special Interest Group Session Annual Conference of the International Reading Association Toronto, Ontario May 17, 2007

2. Abstract This study measured 263 fourth and sixth grade African American students’ self-perceptions of school competence and determined that their perceptions correlated with their performance on state-mandated achievement tests and normed tests of oral and written language and reading. Largely the students expressed school satisfaction, but many did not perceive themselves as confident or successful in school. Self-perceptions of greater ability correlated with better achievement scores and self-perceptions of lesser ability correlated with lower scores. Better test performers had more confidence and more satisfaction with school. Overall, students seemed to be at risk for school disengagement, lack of confidence, and low self-expectations. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

3. Background and Context for the Study Student test performance is not simply the aftermath of exposure to curriculum. Tests of academic achievement may demonstrate how students have responded to exposure to curriculum, but achievement is also a reflection of multiple contexts that engender student performance and sometimes may mitigate test performance. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

4. Background and Context for the Study These contexts include insufficiencies in school resources, inadequacy of school programming, family and community socioeconomic circumstances, and learner characteristics such as language competence and test preparedness. It is important to investigate the viewpoints of children who are in circumstances that may place them at risk for unsatisfactory test performance. Children in challenged schools may affirm self- perceptions of school achievement and satisfaction, or they may not. Research needs to be directed at whether affected students perceive themselves as academically capable, able to read, and satisfied with school. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

5. Students’ Self-Perceptions of School Competence School competence is a construct that includes self-perceptions of personal control, self-perceptions of academic competence, achievement-related behaviors, and feelings of effectiveness and worth. Each individual develops a set of self-perceptions based on an accumulation of success and/or failure experiences. Persons who experience more successes than failures tend to develop positive self-perceptions of ability, while those who experience many failures tend to develop more negative self-perceptions of ability. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

6. Purpose of the Present Study The purpose of the current research was to determine to what degree a measure of students’ self-perceptions of school competence correlated with their performance on various forms of achievement testing. These data on self-perceptions of school competence are a subset of data collected for a larger study on how language capabilities impact performance on mandated achievement tests. The larger study arose during a school-university partnership where this author provided professional development seminars to teachers from a school district where scores on state mandated achievement tests were considerably below state averages, sometimes as low as 14% passing. The state stipulates that 75% of students need to pass the test. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

7. Purpose of the Present Study The larger study was published in the College Reading Association Yearbook in 2003 as Relating African American Students’ Scores On State-mandated Reading And Writing Tests To Standardized Measures Of Reading And Oral And Written Language. The findings on school self-competence were not included in that publication. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

8. Gordon Pershey, M. (2003). Relating….. The entire study was conducted in response to concerns voiced by teachers in an academically challenged school district where enrollment is virtually 100% African American. Teachers suspected that students’ performance on state-mandated achievement testing may be hindered by a lack of developmental language skill and lack of language-based information learned in and out of school. The study compared student performance on the state summative tests of reading and writing curriculum mastery, with standardized tests of developmental oral and written language and reading capabilities. The research hypothesis that developmental language capabilities impact performance on educational achievement testing was confirmed. A share of the outcomes on achievement tests is predicated on language skills. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

9. Purpose of the Present Study To further explore characteristics of the participants in relation to their performance on mandated testing. The purpose was to measure participants’ self-perceptions of school competence. Determine to what degree a norm-referenced measure of participants’ self-perceptions of school competence correlated with their performance on criterion-referenced state-mandated tests and norm-referenced tests of oral and written language and reading capabilities. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

10. Methodology – Participants and Setting 263 students 140 fourth graders (64 males and 76 females) 123 sixth graders (56 males and 67 females) Participants lived in an urban suburb about ten miles from the center of a moderately large city. 90.4% of the population of the community was African American. Home values averaged about $70,000 and rental properties were about $500 per month. 25.1% of the children in this community were listed as economically disadvantaged, compared to a state average of 13.4% Transience Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

11. Methodology – Instrumentation 4th and 6th graders completed a written inventory of self-perception of school competence and interests, the Perception of Abilities Scale in Students (PASS) (Boersma & Chapman, 1992). Students were asked to read and respond with “yes” or “no” to I-statements pertaining to school self-perceptions in the following strands: General Ability, Reading/Spelling Ability, Confidence, and School Satisfaction. The PASS was designed to be used with students in grades 3 to 6 and its readability level is at grade 3. The test yields percentile and T-scores (standard scores with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation [SD] of 10) and validity and misrepresentation indicators. A T-score of 40 or below is considered a critical indicator of diminished academic self-confidence. PASS items are phrased in both the positive and the negative. A sample item for General Ability is, “In school I find new things difficult to learn.” For Reading/Spelling Ability, one item reads, “I am a good reader.” A sample Confidence item is, “Tests are easy for me to take.” One School Satisfaction item reads, “I like telling my friends about schoolwork.” Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

12. Methodology – Data Analysis Participants’ scores on the PASS were determined. No participant was identified by the validity indicators as producing a significant finding for inconsistency, response bias, or misrepresentation. No student’s validity indexes were outside of the normative range. For both grades, correlations within the PASS met high levels of significance. Each subtest was noted to correlate with all of the other subtests at least once. Of 6 possible within-test correlations, there were 6 positive and significant within-test correlations for grade 4 and 4 positive and significant within-test correlations for grade 6. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

13. Results Largely, the grade 4 group expressed satisfaction with school, but many children in this sample did not perceive themselves as successful in school tasks, as evidenced by the General Ability scores. Respondents were more likely to be satisfied than confident, and more likely to be satisfied than perceiving of themselves as able. For grade 6, students reported low school satisfaction. Low School Satisfaction scores suggest a negative response to school tasks. The 6th grade students sampled seemed to be at risk for school disengagement. Comparing grades 4 and 6, 4th graders did not perceive themselves as having strong school competencies but their satisfaction with school was notable. For 6th graders, self-perceptions of abilities were greater but confidence and school satisfaction were lesser. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

14. Results Considering that overall findings showed that sixth graders’ skills on standardized measures were, in many cases, farther from expectations than fourth graders’ were, it is troubling that the sixth graders believed themselves to be in possession of stronger school abilities. Conceivably, a sixth grade child who thinks she is doing well even though she is not achieving up to standards might not put forth her best effort -- she may be of the belief that her efforts are sufficiently successful. Conversely, a fourth grader who thinks he is not able, although he may well be, might also stop putting forth effort and enter into a condition of inertia and learned helplessness, under the mistaken notion that his efforts will not result in gains. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

15. Results Students could be thought of as being fairly accurate in their self-perceptions of ability if their PASS scores correlated with their overt test performance. These correlational data would indicate that self-perceptions of greater ability coincided with better test scores, and self-perceptions of lesser ability correlated with lower test scores. Self-perceptions of ability, confidence, and school satisfaction correlated with measures of oral and written language and reading. Students who obtained better scores conveyed stronger self-perceptions of ability and/or greater satisfaction with school; students who were less strong reported lesser self-perceptions of ability, confidence, and satisfaction. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

16. Results The tendency was that both 4th and 6th graders who produced better writing samples “accurately” conveyed stronger self-perceptions of ability; students whose work was less strong “accurately” reported lesser self-perceptions of ability. 6th graders who prepared better writing samples also reported greater school confidence; students whose writing samples earned lower scores reported less academic confidence. It would seem that better performers had more confidence and weaker performers were less confident. Stronger writers expressed more satisfaction with school, while less strong writers were less satisfied with school. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

17. Interpretations Students who perceive themselves as having inadequate abilities may not invest patience and perseverance when difficulties are encountered. Achievement is unlikely to ensue when effort is not expended. Therefore, achievement is related to not only the cognitive and linguistic abilities that promote it but also to students’ perceptions of their abilities. Feelings of lack of confidence and disengagement might coincide with unfavorable achievement test results. Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007

18. Conclusions Children in challenged school, whose language competence left them at risk for diminished test performance, affirmed some self-perceptions of school competence, but issues of school engagement are evident. The question remains: Can diminished self-perceptions of school competence and school satisfaction be related to attending a challenged school? Would these children’s self-perceptions have been different if they had attended higher performing schools? Gordon Pershey PRTE IRA 2007