Culture-Fair Assessment: Challenging Indigenous Students Through Effortful Mathematics Teaching

Abstract

This paper reports on a mathematics education research project centred on teachers' pedagogical practices and capacity to assess Indigenous Australian students in a culturally-fair manner. The project has been funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage program and is being conducted in seven Catholic and Independent primary schools in north Queensland. Our Industry Partners are Catholic Education and the Association of Independent Schools, Queensland.

Teachers of Years 4 and 6 used Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN numeracy results and detailed analysis as baseline data to inform their teaching practices, and for gathering further assessment information through rich assessment tasks. The teachers used this information to diagnose the extent of students' conceptual and procedural understanding in terms of sequential curriculum goals and individual readiness. Consequently, students' pre-dispositions to learning mathematics were also seen as an important indicator of future success. The aim of the research project was to understand teachers' assessment strategies and how they used summative assessment data formatively to scaffold and extend Indigenous students' mathematical understandings.

Semi-structured interviews were also carried out with the Years 4 and 6 Indigenous students, teachers, principals and with Indigenous Education Workers (e.g. teacher aides and community liaison staff). These interviews were designed to gain a broad view of cultural influences and values that affect the dispositions of Indigenous students' learning, particularly the learning of mathematics. Background information from these interviews was then analysed further to augment data from the individual NAPLAN test results. The overall aim was to identify homologies ('resemblances with a difference') between classroom interaction, school organisation designed for Indigenous students, the education and culture of the students, and their relationships with home and family in each regional setting. Attention to the variation that emerged in the results across a continuum of Indigenous learning was further analysed to explore the factors for culture-fair assessment.

The research study draws on the literature surrounding the challenges in Indigenous education (Beresford & Partington, 2003) and on improving educational outcomes for Islander and Pacifica students (Kearney, 2008) to consider connections with Indigenous epistemologies. Sociocultural theories of assessment and learning (Rogoff, 1995, 2001, 2003; Wertsch, 1991, 1995; Gutiérrez, 2009), authentic assessment (Wiggins, 1989, 1990, 1993; Stiggins, 1987, 2007) and assessment for learning (ARG, 1999; Stobart, 2008) provided the bases for the theoretical and methodological approaches adopted. The research to date has found that culture-fair assessment requires an understanding of many complex issues. Predominantly, family support and the literacy demands of assessment items heavily influence outcomes and the fairness of the assessment practices.

The findings of this study have implications for pedagogy and for practice. Culture-fair assessment encourages teachers to engage students in appropriate levels of challenge through relevant and meaningful contexts. Such assessment serves to identify understanding in light of students' dispositions and desires to learn mathematics. Underpinning the pedagogical approaches is a broader view of how mathematics is taught and learned in schools - one that encompasses students' understandings, dispositions, self-beliefs, and acknowledges their personal view of the value of mathematics education. Rich tasks (Luke, 2005) and open-ended questioning (Sullivan & Lilburn, 2005) provide the bases for authentic problem solving (Mason, Burton & Stacey, 1985) that enhances students' intrinsic motivation, perseverance and resilience. Expectancy value theory (Fishbein, 1963) suggests that students' attitudes to learning are directly affected by the value they place on learning and t