NEWTON, MA | June 3, 2009
New research from the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) points to links between student and school variables and 10th-grade Hispanic students’ scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) English language arts (ELA) and mathematics tests from 2002 to 2006. The study also found that Hispanic students’ average scores on the language arts and math tests increased over the four years, narrowing the performance gap between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students.
In Analyzing Performance by Grade 10 Hispanic High School Students on the Massachusetts State Assessment, published by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), researchers examined student scores and found statistically significant associations with variables such as student socioeconomic status, country of origin, English-language proficiency, gender, and school attendance rate.
“In reporting and analyzing test scores, Hispanic students are usually treated as a single homogenous subgroup,” said researcher María Teresa Sánchez at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC). “Hispanic students in the United States, however, are a large and diverse population. This study provides evidence of their heterogeneity and identifies some variables that are associated with their MCAS performance. Disaggregating those variables might be helpful for policymakers as they conceptualize and develop support services for Hispanic students.”
The researchers caution that the study’s analyses reveal correlational and not causal relationships. The findings include the following statistically significant associations between student-level characteristics and 10th-grade Hispanic students’ MCAS scores for each year tested:
- Female Hispanic students scored higher on the ELA test than did male Hispanic students, while male Hispanic students scored higher on the math test.
- Hispanic students who were from low-income households, in special education, limited English proficient, or classified as “formerly limited English proficient” scored lower on the ELA and math tests than did Hispanic students without those characteristics.
- Hispanic students from Caribbean and Central American countries, and Mexico, scored lower on the ELA test than did U.S.-born Hispanic students.
- Hispanic students from South American countries other than Brazil scored higher on the math test than did U.S.-born Hispanic students.
A statistically significant association between MCAS performance and one school-level variable also was found across the years: Hispanic students in schools with higher attendance rates scored higher on both tests than did Hispanic students in schools with lower attendance rates.
In addition, the analysis shows that the average 10th-grade score on the ELA test for Hispanic students jumped 12 points between the 2002/03 and 2005/06 academic years, while the average math score rose 10 points.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education requested the study. Massachusetts policymakers are concerned about the consistently lower MCAS scores of Hispanic students compared with students from other subgroups. They were interested in learning more about Hispanic students by disaggregating the test scores by student- and school-level variables. RES-NEI researchers analyzed associations between the MCAS scores and various variables using multilevel regression modeling.
The report details several study limitations, including that a different cohort of 10th-grade Hispanic students was assessed for each school year. The report was written by Sánchez, Stacy Ehrlich, and Emily Midouhas at EDC, and Laura O’Dwyer at Boston College. It is available for download at the IES website or relnei.org.