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Eckels, Carol Jones

College of Education and Social Services

2005

Ed. D.

This study describes the relationship between early language abilities and mathematics achievement using five years of student data from over 3,000 students in the East Central Vermont Literacy Consortium (ECVLC). The data were obtained from Grades 1 and 2 Primary Observation Assessment (POA) results and Grade 4 New Standards Reference Exam (NSRE) results in mathematics. The first two research questions were designed to determine the relationship between the POA early language abilities known as Hearing and Recording Sounds, Writing Vocabulary, Text Level, and Paragraph Dictation and achievement in the mathematics NSRE clusters, skills, concepts, and problem solving, and the subset of Stanford Achievement Test - Version 9 (SAT9) questions. The third question was designed to determine whether early language interventions, based upon the POA performance, supported student mathematics achievement in Grade 4. Using the chi-square test of independence, data analysis showed significant relationships between early language abilities and mathematics achievement in Grade 4. Students who did not meet the standard on the POA variables Hearing and Recording Sounds and Text Level in Grades 1 and 2 were more likely to not meet the standard in all three NSRE mathematics clusters, skills, concepts, and problem solving in Grade 4 than those students meeting these POA standards. Students not meeting the POA Paragraph Dictation standard in Grade 2 were more likely to not meet the mathematics skills and concepts standard in Grade 4 than those meeting the Paragraph Dictation standard. Using an independent samples t-test, data analysis showed the difference in the mean scores on each of the POA variables was significant for the groups formed by the tails of the SAT9 distribution. The group of students whose scores were in the low tail of the SAT9 distributions had a mean score on each of the POA subtests that was less than that of the group of students formed by the high tail of the SAT9 distribution. Using the univariate analysis of variance, data analysis showed a significant difference in the mean NSRE SA T9 scores for the groups of students formed by whether or not they had received early language interventions. The group of students in schools served by the POA outperformed the groups of students in schools not served by the POA on the mathematics SA T9. Both the groups of students that were eligible and not eligible for free and reduced lunch in POA schools outperformed their counterparts in non-POA schools.