DIFFERENCES IN THE MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT OF TEXAS GRADE 3 EMERGENT BILINGUAL STUDENTS AS A FUNCTION OF THEIR ECONOMIC STATUS, ETHNICITY/RACE, AND GENDER: A MULTIYEAR STATEWIDE STUDY

Purpose The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to examine the extent to which differences were present in the mathematics achievement of Grade 3 Emergent Bilingual students by their economic status, ethnicity/race, and gender. In the first study, the extent to which economic status (i.e., Poor and Not Poor) was related to the mathematics achievement of Texas Grade 3 Emergent Bilingual students was determined. In the second study, the degree to which the mathematics performance achievement of Texas Grade 3 Emergent Bilingual students differed by their ethnicity/race (i.e., Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White) was ascertained. In the third study, the extent to which mathematic performance differed between Texas Grade 3 Emergent Bilingual boys and girls was determined. Finally, addressed in all three articles was the presence of trends in student performance in the Reporting Categories (i.e., Reporting Category I: understand numerical representations and relationships, Reporting Category II: computations and algebraic relationships, Reporting Category III: geometry and measurements, and Reporting Category IV: data analysis and personal financial literature) and mathematics performance levels: (i.e., Approaches Grade Level, Meets Grade Level, and Masters Grade Level) across three school years (i.e., 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019). Method A causal-comparative research design was present for all three studies. Archival data were collected through a Public Information Request form for the 2016-2017, 2017- 2018, and 2018-2019 school years obtained from the Texas Education Agency Public Education Information Management System. Findings Grade 3 Emergent Bilingual students who were economically disadvantaged had statistically significantly lower mathematics performance than their peers who were not in poverty. Asian Emergent Bilingual students performed statistically significantly better than Black Emergent Bilingual, Hispanic Emergent Bilingual, and White Emergent Bilingual students in mathematics. Grade 3 Black Emergent Bilingual and White Emergent Bilingual students had the lowest mathematics performance in all three years. In the four Mathematics Reporting Categories and all three grade level standards, statistically significant differences between boys and girls were only minimally present. Results for all three school years were commensurate with the existing research literature. Implications for policy and for practice, as well as recommendations for future research, were provided.