University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 2006 A comparison of the mathematical performance of grade 3 students in provincial public and Islamic private schools in Ontario. Mahdi Mohamed University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation Mohamed, Mahdi, "A comparison of the mathematical performance of grade 3 students in provincial public and Islamic private schools in Ontario." (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 563. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/563 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). 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ABSTRACT This causal comparative study was designed to compare the mathematical performance of Grade 3 students in Provincial public and Islamic private schools in Ontario. Three hundred and fifty eight third grade students’ EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) mathematics assessment results of the years 2001-2002 to 2003-2004 were analyzed. At the provincial standard (Level 3) in 2003-2004, An-noor Islamic school superseded the entire public school board by 2%. More than a half of the students of both An-noor Islamic school and Queen Victoria public school achieved at or above the provincial standard. In 2003-2004, more than a half (54%) of all students of Abraar Islamic School obtained Level 3 or the provincial standard whereas only 21% of Pinecrest public school students obtained Level 3. The results indicated that Abraar school students outperformed their counterparts at Pinecrest public school students in mathematics. When the 2002- 2003 EQAO assessments of An-noor Islamic School and Queen Victoria public school of Windsor, Ontario were compared, the results showed a significant difference in mathematics achievement between the two school types. The p-value reported was less than the selected significance level (i.e., p < .05). The exact p-value was found to be .015. When each private Islamic school’s EQAO mathematics results were compared to the EQAO results of the entire province, only An-noor Islamic school versus Province of Ontario of 2002-2003 EQAO assessment results indicated significant difference. However, in most cases, the findings indicated that the school type (public or private) that a student attends had no significant effect on mathematical achievement. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge and thank all the efforts of the Internal Reader, Dr. Linda McKay, and the External Reader, Dr. Abdulkadir Hussein, who showed a great commitment to me as their student. I also would like to acknowledge the time, support and encouragement I received from my advisor Dr. Anthony Ezeife whose suggestions and comments were extremely valuable. My final recognition and acknowledgment go to my wife, Sadia Dole, for her endless support during my research. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.................................................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES.....................................................................................vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. General Statement of the Problem ........................................................ 1 B. Definition of Terms .................................................................................3 C. Research Question and Hypothesis .......................................................3 D. Significance of Study..............................................................................4 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE A. Private Schools and Student Achievement ..........................................5 B. Public Schools and Student Achievement .......................................... 13 C. The effects of Private School Competition on Public School Student Achievement ............................................................................................ 15 D. What Motivates the Choice of one school type over another and the Status of SchoolChoice...........................................................................16 E. Teachers’ beliefs about Mathematics and Student Achievement.... 17 F. Student Achievement and Teachers’ pedagogical practices in Mathematics.............................................................................................20 III. DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY A. Subjects.................................................................................................. 24 B. Instrumentation ...................................................................................... 25 C. Design and Procedures ......................................................................... 27 D. Limitations of Design ............................................................................29 IV. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. Results and Discussion ......................................................................... 30 V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusions ............................................................................................48 B. Recommendations .................................................................................50 REFERENCES...........................................................................................51 APPENDIX EQAO GRADE 3 ASSESSMENT OF MATHEMATICS, 2003- 2004.........................................................................................................58 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. VITA AUCTORIS 86 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES 1. Queen Victoria Public School and An-noor Islamic School comparison results for 2003-2004 EQAO mathematics (table 1 and bar graph 1) ...............................31-32 2. Queen Victoria Public School and An-noor Islamic School comparison results for 2002-2003 EQAO mathematics (table