Enhancing the Academic Achievement of Indigenous Students in Rural Australia

Abstract

Indigenous students in the middle-school years who experience difficulties in basic mathematics are a particularly vulnerable group. During these years gaps in performance between educationally disadvantaged students and their peers widen, potentially leading to ongoing economic and social disadvantage. This proposal reports on a teaching intervention referred to as QuickSmart, which has been particularly successful with Indigenous students from rural communities who perform in the bottom 30% of the achievement spectrum in Australia-wide tests. Evidence is drawn from the learning progress of Indigenous middle-school students who completed the QuickSmart numeracy program. These data show, based on effect-size statistics, academic growth for students of up to two years over the course of a 30-week program.