Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India 5 D e te rm in atio n o f Margin alize d Yo u th to Ove rco m e an d Ach ie ve in Math e m atics : A Cas e Stu d y Fro m In d ia Deepa Srikantaiah University Research Co., LLC (URC) Melinda (Mindy) Eichhorn Gordon College Masarrat Khan Maharashtra Dy slexia Association, India Abs tra ct According to the Un ited Nations Hum an Developm ent Report (20 16), poor, m arginalized, and vulnerable groups still face substantial barriers to access post-secondary education and em ploym ent. These m arginalized and vulnerable groups include wom en , girls, indigenous peoples, ethnic m inorities, people with disabilities, m igrants and refugees, the LGBTI com m unity, and those discrim inated because of their socio-econom ic status (UN Hum an Developm ent Report (20 16). Increasingly, proficiency in m athem atics is required for careers and for solvin g daily problem s in life (Starkey & Klin e, 20 0 8; Ram aa, 20 15). Basic num erical, m athem atical, and scientific skills are an im portant m echanism to further education and to enable individuals to im prove their job m arket potential. The risk of underachievem ent in m athem atics around the world is greatest for students from low-incom e backgrounds, as well as lin guistic and ethn ic m inorities (Ram aa, 20 15; National Research Council, 1989). In India, these factors are com pounded by lack of early exposure to m ath, poor teacher quality, and large class sizes (ASER, 20 14). Although som e research has explored difficulties in arithm etic for econom ically disadvantaged elem entary students in India (see Ram aa, 20 15), the challenges that m arginalized adolescents encounter in com pletin g secondary m athem atics courses has been largely un exam ined. In this qualitative exploratory study, conducted from October 20 15 to February 20 16, we sought to understand the characteristics of adolescents from socio-econom ically m arginalized com m unities in Mum bai and Bangalore, In dia, and their determ ination and perseverance to overcom e challen ges in m athem atics and com plete their secondary education. In particular, the study followed students who had dropped out of m ainstream school and enrolled in India’s National Institute of Open Schoolin g Program to com plete their high school education and attem pt the 10 th standard board exam s. Results from data collected in the academ ic year showed that there were m ultiple factors, including lack of learning foundation al skills at the prim ary school level and the type of intervention provided to com plete high school, which influenced the students’ achievem ent in m athem atics. Findings from the study inform policy and program m atic decisions for students enrolled in India’s National Institute of Open Schooling Program . ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Global Education Review is a publication of The School of Education at Mercy College, New York. Th is is an Open Access article distributed under th e term s of the Creative Com m ons Attribution 4.0 Intern ational License (CC by 4.0 ), perm ittin g all use, distribu tion, an d reprodu ction in any m edium , provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the license is provided, and you indicate if changes were m ade. Citatio n Srikan taiah , D e e p a , Eich h o rn , Me lin d a Su e & Kh an , Ma s a rrat, Em m a ( 2 0 18 ) . D e te rm in atio n o f m argin alize d yo u th to o ve rco m e an d ach ie ve in m a th e m a tics : A ca s e s tu d y fro m In d ia . Glo b a l Ed u ca t io n R ev ie w , 5 ( 3 ) , 5 -2 8 . 6 Global Education Review 5(3) Ke yw o rd s Mathem atics Education, In dia, Resilience, Marginalized, Adolescents In tro d u ctio n their lives, from parental death to failin g The students w ho attend the Sam udra program m ultiple grades or droppin g out of school, the in Mum bai w ake up to the sounds in their slum . students in our study have persevered with Their fathers are sliding open the doors to their resilient behavior and have com e to these shoe shops adjacent to their hom es, their program s to com plete high school. m others are busy in the kitchen preparing food Although som e research has explored for the day , and outside rickshaw drivers and difficulties in arithm etic for econom ically other m erchants m ake their w ay to w ork. The disadvantaged elem entary students in India (see four y oung boy s and tw o y oung girls w ho Ram aa, 20 15), the challenges that m arginalized participated in our study have different tasks as adolescents encounter in com pleting secondary they start their day . The boy s generally run m athem atics courses has been largely m orning errands for their parents, w hile the unexam ined. In fact, adolescents that have girls help out w ith household w ork or help their dropped out of school have recently been fathers open up the business. The students live referred to as “opportunity youth,” since they in the sam e neighborhood and are fam ily have extraordinary untapped potential. They can friends outside of school. be extrem ely hopeful, despite their challenges (Kam enetz, 20 15). The students w ho attend the Parisandra program , in contrast, all attend a boarding school in the outskirts of Bangalore. The three boy s and three girls in our study com e from single parent hom es or are orphans. They start their day at 6 am w ith a m orning run, follow ed by m orning tasks including m aking breakfast, cleaning their school grounds, or m aintaining their school garden. For these children their school is their hom e and part of their education is to take care of the school they live in. Parisandra’s students have an opportunity to go hom e to their fam ily or guardians over the w eekend. The students of the Sam udra and In our study, we investigated adolescents from m arginalized com m unities in Mum bai and Bangalore, India, and their perseverance determ ination to overcom e challenges in m athem atics and to com plete their secondary education. This exploratory, qualitative study, conducted from October 20 15 to February 20 16, set out to understand how two program s im plem enting the National Institute of Open Schooling Program approach teaching m athem atics to adolescents from m arginalized com m unities in Mum bai an d Bangalore, India. The study focused on students who had dropped out of m ainstream school and enrolled in India’s National Institute of Open Schooling Parisandra program s participated in open- Program in order to com plete their high school schooling program s established by the Indian ________________________________ govern m ent to prom ote high school graduation Co rre s p o n d in g Au th o r Deepa Srikantaiah, University Research Co., LLC, 540 4 of students who have dropped out of m ainstream education . The students of both schools not only cam e from m arginalized backgrounds, but also have had inconsistent schooling. Having faced m any challenges in Wisconsin Ave., Suite 80 0 , Chevy Chase, MD 20 815 Em ail: dsrikantaiah@gm ail.com Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India education and attem pt the 10 th standard (grade) board exam s. Our study focused on the following research questions: • What are the com m on characteristics of students enrolled in NIOS program s, including youth en viron m ental backgrounds? • What challen ges have the students encountered in learn ing m athem atics in the past? • How are the National Institute of Open Schooling Program s adjusting m athem atical instruction to m eet the needs of their students? This paper is a descriptive study that explored the results and im plications of two program s for students enrolled in India’s National Institute of Open Schooling Program . The purpose of this paper is to provide constructive feedback to the program s who are im plem enting National Institute of Open Schooling Program s for m arginalized students. Although the program s vary in their approaches and address different student needs, this research provides a good basis for further identifying any critical gaps in m athem atics education for students who are enrolled in the National Institute of Open Schooling program s. Lite ra tu re Re vie w Math Ach ie ve m e n t in In d ia Recent international assessm ents paint a bleak picture of m athem atics achievem ent in India, especially for m inority students. In 20 0 9, two Indian states, Tam il Nadu and Him achal Pradesh, participated in the Program for International Student Assessm ent (PISA) which is adm in istered to high school students. In m athem atics, India ran ked 73 out of 74, trailin g far behind the other countries which participated such as South Korea, Sin gapore, and the Un ited States (Anirudh Sethi Report, 20 11; Indian Express, 20 12). India chose not to 7 participate in the 20 12 and 20 15 PISA cycles and will next participate in 20 21 (Chopra, 20 17). The situation is equally bad at the early grades. The Annual Status Education Report (ASER) in India showed that approxim ately 73% of grade 3 students in rural India could not recognize num bers past 9, and could not com plete any type of m athem atical operations required at their level (ASER, 20 11). If these students are fortunate enough to stay and advance in school, they acquire basic m ath skills in 6th standard instead of class 2 or 3 (Global Partnership for Education, 20 12). This leaves them years behind their peers in m athem atics and science, which can lim it their postsecondary education and career options, and take a toll on their self-esteem and m otivation . In India, research has prim arily focused on challenges facin g upper m iddle class secondary school students in learning m athem atics due to learnin g disabilities (Karande, Sholapurwala, & Kulkarni, 20 11; Karande, Mahajan , & Kulkarni, 20 0 9). Challen ges that m arginalized adolescents encounter in com pleting secondary m athem atics courses has been largely un exam in ed. Since there is m inim al research on the teachin g and learnin g of m athem atics for m arginalized youth in India, there is a critical gap in the availability of education indicators for academ ic developm ent and progression. Te a ch e r Co n te n t Kn o w le d ge a n d Pe d ago gical Kn o w le d ge The level of teachers’ m athem atics content knowledge also im pacts students’ academ ic achievem ent (Hawk, Coble, & Swanson, 1985). However, the training teachers receive in India does not include adequate focus on student understanding in m athem atics. Teachers often teach by rote m em orization, or they recite m athem atics operations and/ or equation s in unison with their class, which does not address com prehension of the subject. Research suggests that teachers do this to keep pace with over-am bitious curricula which are inappropriate for students lackin g 8 preschool or kindergarten education. This m ethod exacerbates the learning gap, leavin g m any students behind, such as in early grade m athem atics (Pritchett & Beatty, 20 12). In addition, poor teacher quality is com bined with extrem ely large class-size and scarcity of in-class learnin g m aterials. Margin alize d Co m m u n itie s There are m any factors that can work to underm ine students’ ability to perform well in m athem atics, and m any of these are exacerbated when students com e from m arginalized backgrounds. For exam ple, early exposure, particularly at hom e, to num bers and sim ple m athem atics inform ally can set the foundation for success. In Organization for Econom ic Cooperation and Developm ent (OECD) countries, it is com m on for students to have access to at least one year of early childhood education (OECD, 20 17). Whereas in countries like India, com pulsory education gen erally begins in 1st standard and students com e to school with little or no preparation (Srikantaiah & Ralain gita, 20 14). When students do not have early exposure, it can im pact their progress in school and social m obility (Brantlin ger, 1993; DiMaggio & Mohr, 1985; Lareau, 1989; McDonough, 1997; Srikantaiah 20 0 8; Useem , 1992). Ch ro n ic an d To xic Stre s s Other factors that can im pact students’ ability to learn m athem atics include poverty, m alnutrition , physical and em otional violence in fam ilies, drug and alcohol addiction, and m igration, which can all lead to chronic or toxic stress. Accordin g to the Center on the Developin g Child (20 17) at Harvard University, a child experiences toxic stress when they have prolonged activation of stress in non-positive environm ents without adult support. A less severe level of chronic stress can occur when a student endures these en vironm ents buffered by supportive relationships (Center on the Developin g Child, 20 17). Students m ay be exposed to experiences that are so stressful that Global Education Review 5(3) they are in a state of constant anxiety and unable to cope (Zacarian, Alvarez-Ortiz, & Hayn es, 20 17). When a student’s stress response system stays on high alert, the architecture of the child’s developing brain and organ system s are affected and can cause a host of health, learn ing, and behavioral problem s into adulthood (Center on the Developin g Child, 20 17). In order to enhance the academ ic and socio-em otional developm ent of students living with traum a, violence, and chronic or toxic stress, students can benefit from external support and a strengths-based approach 1. Students need consistent, routine, predictable, nurturing, and stim ulating interactions to ease their an xiety and stress in order to focus on learnin g m ath (Zacarian, Alvarez-Ortiz, & Haynes, 20 17). Se lf-D e te rm in atio n While the Un ited Nations defines “selfdeterm ination” as the right of a person to determ in e his own destiny (in regards to econom ic, cultural, and social developm ent), self-determ ination for adolescents has been defined as a com bination of skills, or com ponents, which enable a student to act “purposefully and plan fully” (Wehm eyer, 20 0 4, p. 352; Wehm eyer, 1994; Trainor, 20 0 8). These skills include: m akin g choices, decision m aking, problem solving, goal settin g and attainm ent, self-observation , self-evaluation, selfreinforcem ent, self-instruction, self-advocacy and leadership, internal locus of control, positive attributions of efficacy and outcom e expectancy, self-awareness, and self-kn owledge (Wehm eyer et al., 1997; Konrad et al., 20 0 7; Thom a & Wehm eyer, 20 0 5). There is a strong conn ection between students’ self-determ ination skills, academ ic perform ance, and post-high school outcom es (Martin , Portley, & Graham , 20 10 ). Students need self-determ ination skills in order to be aware of their strengths an d weaknesses, to be aware of resources available to them , and to take advantage of and use the resources (Cawthon & Cole, 20 10 ; Chiba & Low, 20 0 7; Martin , Portley, Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India & Graham , 20 10 ; Webb et al., 20 0 8 ). Students need self-determ ination skills to recognize the potential barriers that exist and to develop strategies to overcom e the obstacles (Getzel, 20 0 8). Students n eed self-determ ination skills to advocate for their academ ic needs, including skills to ask for clarification and help (Kosin e, 20 0 7). For students facin g poor self-esteem due to years of failure and frustration in m athem atics and, possibly, lack of adult support, self-determ ination skills n eed to be explicitly taught and practiced within a program or curriculum . N atio n al In s titu te o f Op e n S ch o o lin g In response to the critical gaps in education in India, the Governm ent of India set up the National Open School in Novem ber 1989. In J uly 20 0 2, the MHRD am ended the nom enclature of the organization from the National Open School (NOS) to the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) with the m ission of providing “relevant, continuing and holistic education up to pre-degree level through Open and Distance Learn in g System ; contributin g to the universalization of School Education; and caterin g to the educational needs of the prioritized target groups for equity and social justice” (National Institute of Open Schooling, 20 12, para. 3). With about 2.71 m illion students enrolled, NIOS is credited to be the largest open school in the world with sign ificant popularity in the com m onwealth countries and in certain other developin g and developed countries (National Open Schooling Program , 20 12). NIOS is an autonom ous an d parallel exam Board. However, unlike m ainstream Boards, students are given the option of selectin g the subjects they would like to study and are allowed to take the exam s at their own pace. Many students do not choose the m athem atics or science exam s and opt for subjects related to com m erce or arts. The NIOS program started off as a selfinitiated or self-study program where interested students could go to the nearest Accredited 9 NIOS Institute and register for a fee. To enroll in NIOS, students need to go to school until 8 th grade and be at least 14 years old. Students are provided with subject m aterials which they can study at their own pace at hom e or at a designated NIOS study center. They do not have to be a part of a program or institution to com plete high school. In itiatives like the Sam udra and Parisandra program s, which are aligned with NIOS accredited centers, were developed to help students who were com pleting 10 th grade through NIOS by providin g a m ore structured and supported approach. Both of these program s use the NIOS curriculum . NIOS has partnered with 8 53 Agencies providing facilities at their study centers. The NIOS provides resource support such as the adaptation of NIOS m odel curricula and study m aterials to the voluntary agencies. Students can go through NIOS to com plete their secondary (10 th ) or senior secondary (12 th ) grade levels. NIOS gives students an option of which subjects to take for their secondary and senior secondary levels – students can take a m in im um of 5 out of 28 subjects and at least one language. Students are not required to take exam s for all subjects through NIOS. They can also take the exam in any of the scheduled languages of India. Students now have the option of takin g a Vocational Education program of NIOS at the Senior Secondary stage which includes subjects like com puter and inform ation technology. There is no standardization in how institutes or organizations im plem ent the NIOS program . At Sam udra, the program focus was on preparing students to en ter post-secondary education or pre-university program s without any knowledge gaps. At Parisandra, the focus was m ore on developing socio-em otional skills for the students and buildin g their selfdeterm ination skills so that they can be independent and self-sustaining after finishin g high school (Observation , October 3, 20 15). Another m ajor difference is that students at Sam udra are expected to take all subject exam s, so that they could enter post-secondary education (anonym ous program coordinator, 10 personal com m unication, Septem ber 25, 20 15). Parisandra’s students were not expected to take all subject exam s, but rather were allowed to opt out of m athem atics or scien ce because those subjects are harder. Parisandra’s students were encouraged by their teachers to take exam s which they kn ew they could pass without difficulty. The exam subjects included subjects such as data entry, English, Social Studies. Durin g her interview, Kalpana talked about her aspirations to go into the m edical field but said, “You need m aths for that, Aunty” (personal com m unication , October 3, 20 15). Kalpana said that m athem atics subject exam was too difficult, and she n eeded to pass the 10 th standard. Therefore, like the other students at Parisandra, she did not take the m athem atics subject exam . The variability of how the National Institute of Open Schooling program is im plem ented creates diversity am ong the studen ts who graduate from it and their continued education or career paths. Unfortunately, there are m any m isconceptions about students attending NIOS. In prelim inary con versations with potential research partners, educators and program coordinators to whom we spoke, there were different views about the National Institute of Open Schooling Program . A director of an orphanage in Bangalore m entioned that she didn’t like the Open Schooling Program for the children in her orphanage because it lacked rigor and post-10 th opportun ities for students (anonym ous program coordinator, personal com m unication , Septem ber 25, 20 15). However, the National Institute of Open Schoolin g Program provides opportunities to students who would otherwise struggle in a m ainstream 10 th standard classroom . Many of the youth m ention ed that the sm aller class sizes, pace of the curriculum , and option to not take all subject exam s m ade it m ore m anageable for them to pass the 10 th grade (person al com m unication , October 3, 20 15). In actuality, NIOS is a selfpaced way to attain a secon dary school certificate. Any jun ior college or post-secondary institution m ust accept students that have passed their 10 th standard exam s through NIOS. Global Education Review 5(3) In the 20 14 – 20 15 academ ic year, a total of 155,469 m ale students and a total of 65,622 fem ale students were enrolled in the secondary program . In that year, a total of 10 0 ,0 22 m ale students and a total of 32,713 fem ale students took the m athem atics exam s. The fee for being enrolled in a secondary course was 1485 rupees for m ales and 1210 rupees for fem ales. The fee schedule is subsidized for students from lower castes and those with disabilities (National Institute of Open Schooling, 20 12). Me th o d o lo gy Se ttin g an d P articip an ts This exploratory qualitative study exam in ed the learnin g difficulties m argin alized youth face in m athem atics in two urban m ega-cities in India, Mum bai and Bangalore. Mum bai is the m ost populated city in India and is located in the state of Maharashtra. The approxim ate population of the Mum bai Metropolitan Region (com prisin g Mum bai, Navi Mum bai, Thane, Vasai-Virar, Bhiwandi and Panvel) is n early 21 m illion, according to the 20 11 census (Press In form ation Bureau, Governm ent of India, 20 11). It is also one of the m ost diverse cities in India, attracting Indians from other urban and rural areas for em ploym ent. The state language of Maharashtra is Marathi, but due to the diversity of the population , m an y other lan guages are spoken . In our exploratory study, Sam udra staff explained to us that the m ajority of youth in their program s are originally not from Mum bai but have m igrated to the city for work. Students struggle financially, lack fam ily support, and have inconsistent schoolin g (Sam udra content developer and m aster train er, personal com m unication , Septem ber 10 , 20 15). And, often they are workin g while goin g to school to help their fam ily m ake ends m eet. Bangalore, in the state of Karnataka, is the inform ation technology (IT) center of India. The state language of Karnataka is Kannada. Because of the IT boom over the last two decades, the city population doubled from 4.3 m illion in 20 0 1 to 8.7 m illion in 20 11 accordin g to the census. The IT com pan ies attract people from all over India Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India to work in Bangalore, including youth. Most of the youth m igrate to Bangalore for work, often tim es leavin g behind their fam ily, and interrupting schoolin g. Youth in Bangalore often work while goin g to school. However, the students in our sam ple did not work because they attended boardin g school. When the students were not in classes, they participated in activities for the school -- helpin g keep the school clean, m aintain in g the school garden, or m entorin g youn ger students. In both Mum bai and Bangalore, we explored two research sites: Sam udra Open School for Education in Mum bai and Parisandra in Ban galore. Both sites are registered with the National Institute for Open Schooling (NIOS), Delhi under the Open Basic Education (OBE) program . At Sam udra, there were approxim ately 60 students enrolled in the Hindi-language section , while approxim ately 10 students were enrolled in the Marathi-language section. Many of the students and their fam ilies m igrated from Rajasthan and speak Marwadi at hom e, in addition to speaking Hindi. Most of the fam ilies work with leather and m ake sandals for a livin g, livin g under the poverty lin e. The students live in Mum bai slum s, and Sam udra recruited the students from the slum neighborhoods. To be eligible for the Sam udra program , students m ust have passed 4 th standard an d be older than 14 years old (no age lim it). Most students entered the program because they m igrated to Mum bai before they finished their education in Rajasthan; or because, if they passed the 9 th standard, their parents needed them to drop out of school to work and support the fam ily. Som e enrolled because they failed Math and English in 9 th standard, while others failed Science. Students from Sam udra were recruited by the program coordinator. The program coordinator visited the slum s where the students lived and explain ed how the program at Sam udra would give them a second chance at school. The program coordinator told the students that Sam udra was a friendly en vironm ent with sm all class sizes, and they would not be judged for 11 dropping out of school or failing. The program coordinator em phasized that it would be a safe environm ent for the studen ts (personal com m unication , August 2, 20 15). When students enter the program at Sam udra, they are pre-tested in En glish, language (Hindi or Marathi), and m athem atics. They take a two-m onth foundational course coverin g all the basic m athem atics they m ay have m issed in their interm ittent schoolin g. The foundational course covers concepts rangin g from fractions, to algebra, and geom etry. Once they review the basics, the students m ove onto tenth standard m aterial. Students m ay choose to take general m ath or regular m ath (which has m ore algebra and geom etry). The m ajority of students at Sam udra take general m ath. Later, when students pass the 10 th standard exam through the NIOS program , they can choose one of the three stream s in junior college (11th and 12 th standard): arts, science, or com m erce. If a student takes regular m ath, s/ he can choose to m ajor in science in junior college. If s/ he takes general m ath, options are lim ited, and s/ he cannot m ajor in science. Most of the Sam udra students m ajor in com m erce, and the rest m ajor in arts. No students are currently m ajoring in Science (Sam udra content developer and m aster trainer, personal com m un ication, August 2, 20 15). At Parisandra, students com e from sin gle fam ily hom es or they are orphans. They often have had interrupted schooling or have repeated m ultiple standards. Many of the students are traum a survivors, or have witnessed difficult fam ily situations, and are at-risk for toxic stress. One student said in her interview that she saw her alcoholic father hang him self. Students are adm itted to Parisandra at the request of a fam ily m em ber or guardian, and the m axim um age of a student at Parisandra is 17. They are not given an entrance exam but have to com e from a low socio-econom ic backgroun d, from a single parent hom e, or bean orphan. They m ust also agree to live on the Parisan dra cam pus. The class sizes are very sm all at Parisandra. Only 1215 students are enrolled in each standard and 12 class size is no m ore than five students. In addition, the classes are held in an alternative style: Classes are held outside in shaded areas, students are encouraged to sit on the floor, and the lesson delivery is very interactive, giving students m ore of an exploratory learnin g experience. Parisandra students found out about their program by word of m outh through fam ily, friends, or their com m unity (Parisandra program coordinator, personal com m unication, October 3, 20 15). The curriculum at Parisandra is not as rigid at Sam udra. Students attend classes in English, m athem atics, social sciences, and com puters. In m athem atics, students are introduced to concepts from the 10 th grade curriculum without the pressure of learn ing the m aterial for an exam or for their 10 th board exam s. Parisandra’s m ain focus is on socioem otional skills (Observation, Novem ber 17, 20 15). Students also participate in art and craft activities, learn how to garden and cook, and engage in sports activities such as football and karate. One of the students interviewed from Parisandra wanted to be a classical Bharatanatyam dancer, and in an interview, he called him self an “eagle” which m eans transgender (Surya, person al com m unication , Novem ber 17, 20 15). To support this student, Parisandra brought a dance teacher to the cam pus. They also allowed this student to speak with a m edical professional about sex change operations to enable the student, in case he went this route, to m ake the right m edical choices. Parisandra also allowed students to take the 10 th standard board exam s at their own leisure and in the subjects they preferred. The goal for Parisandra’s graduates is to transition to either work or further schoolin g. Most of Parisandra’s students enter em ploym ent after graduatin g, som e of them continuing to volunteer at the school. Som e students continue to secondary education in vocational education or com m erce. None of the students interviewed in our study Global Education Review 5(3) m ention ed studying sciences, m athem atics, or engineering for their future education. Sam p lin g We em ployed a snowball, or chain , sam plin g strategy to recruit participants. This approach identified cases from people that kn ew people in a certain en vironm ent (Creswell, 20 0 7). Sam udra was chosen as a research site because the lead author had collaborated with the organization on another project and because they also had an open school program . Parisandra was recom m en ded as a research site by the lead author’s Fulbright host institution. It resem bled Sam udra’s National Open Schooling Program dem ographically; however, the geographic and program approaches were different. This m ade researching the two program s interestin g and diverse. In order to determ in e which open school students would be interviewed at each site, we asked the program staff at each location to recom m end 6 students that m et the followin g criteria: • Adolescents (between the ages of 14 and 18) that have either: o Dropped out (gap of m ore than one year), but have returned through a specialized or alternative program , or o Stayed in school, but have had persistently poor school perform ance (failin g or scored 35% in m ath) • Students that have past stressors that m ay have im pacted their learn in g (Center on the Developin g Child, 20 17). • Students that would feel com fortable expressin g them selves in English, Hindi, or Kannada during the interviews. With the assistance of program staff, 4 m ales and 2 fem ales from Sam udra and 3 m ales and 3 fem ales from Parisan dra were asked to participate. See Table 1 for a brief description of the participants. Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India 13 Table 1 Description of participants Mu m b ai: S a m u d ra Pseudonym Sex Age Place of birth (state) Abhishek Male 16 Uttar Pradesh Randhir Male 15 Uttar Pradesh Siddharth Male 17 Rajasthan Karan Male 14 Haryana Karism a Fem ale 15 Rajasthan Alia Fem ale 15 Rajasthan Sex Age Place of birth (state) Surya Male 16 Tam il Nadu Puneet Male 16 Andhra Pradesh Ram esh Male 16 Andhra Pradesh Kalpana Fem ale 16 Andhra Pradesh Vijya Fem ale 16 Andhra Pradesh Ram aya Fem ale 16 Andhra Pradesh Ban galo re : Paris an d ra Pseudonym The lead author was in India collecting data while on a Fulbright fellowship and was approval was granted by Gordon College for this study. able to conduct the interviews required for this exploratory study since she is fluent in Hindi Pro ce d u re s and Kannada. Institutional Review Board (IRB) Data was collected over a period of 5 m onths from October 20 15 to February 20 16. We 14 Global Education Review 5(3) gathered qualitative data in the form of testing and interview protocols can be found in collective case studies, or personalized stories on the appendix at the end of this article. At sim ilar individuals, on these 12 students to Sam udra, the program coordinator was present understand the difficulties they have in learn in g at the interviews to help with any translation m athem atics (Brantlinger et al., 20 0 5). In order difficulties from Hindi to English. to better understand the students’ experiences, The lead author also adm in istered a the m ajority of the interview questions were pre/ post-test to the students to understand the open-ended, focused on the students’ experience baselin e knowledge that students had at the with secondary m ath and their goals for the beginn ing of the interviews, and to determ in e future. Interviews with Sam udra’s students the am ount of m athem atical reasonin g and were all conducted in H indi, and interviews with knowledge gained over the five-m onth period. the students from Parisandra were all conducted The sam e test was adm inistered for both the pre in En glish with som e Kann ada. and post-test. The pre-test and post-test We were also interested in the students’ questions were inform ed by assessm ents m ath skills and proficiency at various points in adm inistered by Sam udra because their the academ ic year. In the first three m eetings program ’s pre-test was m easured by basic we learn ed about the students’ fam ily and com putational and application tasks in a concise educational backgrounds; the focus of the fourth m anner. The two word problem s used in the m eetin g was on students’ ability to solve interviews were adapted from gen eral m ath problem s that were included in a 10 th standard textbooks (Maharashtra State Board of m athem atics textbook in order to learn m ore Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, about students’ m athem atical thinking. The lead 20 15; 20 15b). author adm in istered two word problem s to each student and asked them to perform a “thin k The pre-test covered m athem atics concepts of: • aloud” in which they verbalized their thinkin g to recognize num bers and write them in and strategies (Ketterlin-Geller, Chard & Fien, 20 0 8; Gersten et al., 20 0 9). Students were num erical form at. • given unlim ited tim e to com plete all m ath tasks. work. Students were shown the problem s one at num ber with ten thousands. • pigeons and 19 of them flew away, how problem . After they attem pted to solve the them how they arrived at their answer. m any does he have now?” • researcher conducted interviews. An outline of the data collection is listed in Table 2 below. All Fractions -- students were asked to solve addition and subtraction problem s with After obtain ing written con sent and verbal assent from each of the participants, the on-site Word problem s -- students were asked to solve word problem s such as “If Ram has 38 a tim e and took about 5 m inutes to solve each problem , or solved it, the lead author asked Place value -- students were asked to recognize the place value of a digit in a Each problem was on a separate sheet so that the students had plenty of room to show their Num ber recogn ition -- students were asked fractions. • Conversions -- students were asked to convert between m easurem ents such as volum es, weights, and other units. Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India 15 Table 2 Data Collection Date Data collected October 20 15 Introductions and pre-test (see appendix) Novem ber 20 15 Interview: Students’ past personal and educational backgrounds Decem ber 20 15 Interview: Understanding school curriculum – student perceptions of school and com m un ity J anuary 21, 20 16 Solved two word problem s while perform ing a thin k aloud (see appendix) February 20 16 Wrap up and post-test (see appendix) In order to analyze the data, we adapted at the sites, as well as possible im pact on the theoretical fram ework typically associated individual student’s lives (Vavrus & Bartlett, with vertical case studies: Bray & Thom as’ 20 0 6).After reading through all of the interview (1995) fram ework for m ulti-level analysis (as transcriptions, we coded responses that em erged cited in Phillips & Schweisfurth, 20 0 8 , p. 22- from the data, keeping our research questions in 23). The 12 case studies were analyzed in the m ind (Creswell, 20 0 7; Merriam , 20 0 9). From context of the program sites and exam ined these categories, or them es, we looked for through structures created through social patterns and m eaning across the cases and data norm s, educational practices, and national (Creswell, 20 0 7). policies. These structures shape local processes Figure 1 Fram ework for m ulti-level analysis (adapted from Bray & Thom as, 1995; Phillips & Schweisfurth, 20 0 8) 16 Re s u lts / D is cu s s io n We sought to understand the challen ges the youth faced in learnin g m athem atics in two program s. As discussed earlier, our research was exploratory and, therefore, our results are represented in a descriptive m anner illustrating the com m on life experiences the youth faced across the two program s. The differences were m ainly due to program m atic approaches to teachin g m athem atics, but were also due to their fam ily life, suggesting that students are influenced by the social and educational structures that are present in their lives. We also explored the challen ges students faced in studying or solving m athem atics problem s. The results indicated that there were four areas which im pacted how students in our sam ple perform ed in m athem atics: • Toxic stress from livin g in poverty and fam ily situations; • Previous educational experiences, particularly in m athem atics; • Program m atic approaches to help the students pass the 10 th standard board exam s; and • Solution pathways. To xic Stre s s Due to eligibility requirem ents of the program s, students of Sam udra and Parisandra all cam e from poor and m arginalized backgrounds. Their fam ilies m igrated to urban areas for better financial opportun ities. Sam udra’s youth m oved from their hom e towns to Mum bai, som e with their fam ilies, whereas Parisandra’s students were in and aroun d Bangalore because either their parents m igrated before they were born, or their grandparents m igrated to the city. Students from Sam udra m igrated m ainly from rural areas of Rajasthan for work in Mum bai. Four of the students m igrated with their nuclear fam ilies, and two were split up. Randhir, for exam ple, said he cam e to Mum bai with his uncle and father. His m other and sister Global Education Review 5(3) joined a year or so later (personal com m unication , Septem ber 25, 20 15). In Parisandra’s program , students cam e from Tam il Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Although m ost of Parisandra’s studen ts were born and brought up in and around the city of Bangalore, their parents or grandparen ts m oved to this area for work in construction , factories, or household cleaning. Unlike Sam udra’s students, five of whom cam e from fam ilies with both parents, Parisandra’s students cam e from sin gle parent hom es or were orphans. Therefore, they were eligible to live at Parisandra’s boardin g school. In our sam ple, all of Parisandra’s students cam e from sin gle parent hom es. Students of Parisandra spoke about traum a in their fam ilies m ore than the students from Sam udra did. Kalpan a recounted how her father hanged him self because he was alcoholic (personal com m un ication, October 3, 20 15). Puneet said his m other worked a lot and was usually not at hom e. When she was at hom e, she scolded him a lot, causing him to join neighborhood gangs which eventually got him trouble with the law (shoplifting) (personal com m unication , October 3, 20 15). Surya confided to the lead author that he was gay, and talked about the challen ges he faced in com ing out to his sin gle parent father and extended fam ily. Surya felt that his m om would have understood him better (personal com m unication , Novem ber 17, 20 15). Other students interviewed from Parisandra m ention ed it was difficult growin g up in a single parent hom e or without parents and how this led them to attend Parisandra. They m entioned it as an event in their lives with no external display of strong em otion, such as crying, observed. Nor did they want to talk about it in detail except that they m issed this fam ily m em ber in their lives. None of the students at Sam udra m ention ed traum a in their interviews, but instead m entioned the financial struggles they Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India were experiencin g. All of them supported their fam ilies in their fam ily business or with other after school work. One of them , Siddharth, cam e from a sin gle parent hom e. His father was absent in his life, so to support his m other and younger brother he worked after school (personal com m un ication, Novem ber 17, 20 15). All of the students from Sam udra also m ention ed the lack of role m odels in their lives and how com ing to Sam udra m ade up for it because their teachers were great role m odels. The chron ic stress experien ced by the students in both program s led them to the National Institute of Open Schooling Program s at Sam udra and Parisandra. Abhishek rem em bered bein g at hom e after failing the 9 th standard and thought that he did not have any other options left. However, Sam udra’s program coordinator cam e to his neighborhood and asked him to join Sam udra and whether he would like this second chance at school. Abhishek said it was the best decision he m ade (personal com m unication , October 3, 20 15). Pre vio u s Ed u catio n al Exp e rie n ce s All of the students interviewed struggled with m ainstream schoolin g. For Sam udra’s students, all of them m ention ed that m igrating to a new city, som etim es in the m iddle of a school year, was particularly hard. The low cost private schools they attended had extrem ely large class sizes and teachers would often rush through m aterial in order to cover everything in the curriculum . Ram esh said that m athem atics was “too difficult” (Ram esh, personal com m unication , Novem ber 17, 20 15) in the lowcost private high school he attended before Sam udra. “There were over 10 0 students in m y class,” he recalled and that m ade it challenging for him as he felt his needs were not being m et in that educational environ m ent (Ram esh, personal com m unication, October 3, 20 15). He dropped out and fell two years behind his peers as a result. Alia also recounted a sim ilar story, describing how she felt dem otivated in the low- 17 cost private school she attended. She felt “stupid” because she could not keep up or learn properly. She felt the opposite in Sam udra’s program and said the teachers were very helpful (Alia, personal com m unication, October 3, 20 15). Parisandra’s students also had difficulty attending the low-cost private schools in Bangalore, som etim es encouraged by peer groups who influenced the students to not attend school and to engage in other unproductive activities. All of Parisandra’s students had dropped out because they failed a standard or two and were discouraged. Four of the students said they did n ot like their teachers. Kalpana said, “It was hard to follow or learn m aths from [her teacher]” (personal com m unication , October 3, 20 15). Puneet recalled that his bad school experiences were harder because of his peer group. He said his friends discouraged him from going to school and because of that he got in trouble with the law a few tim es (shoplifting charges) (personal com m unication , October 3, 20 17). All of the students agreed that Parisandra’s teachers were m uch “n icer” than other teachers they had had. Due to the challenges the students from both Sam udra and Parisan dra faced in their m athem atics education – from having to m igrate to new areas, to large classroom s, to bein g unable to follow an am bitious m athem atics curriculum – their foundational skills in m athem atics were weak an d that im pacted their self-determ ination skills. In the exam ple below, a student from Parisandra solved the pre-test problem by addin g or subtracting the num erators and denom inators, showin g no conceptual understandin g of com putation with fractions. In Figure 1 below, the student (Puneet) added straight across to com e to the sum of 8/ 15 in problem iii. In problem iv, the student subtracted the num erators but added the denom inators. Unfortunately, none of the students from Parisandra could solve this problem on the pre-test. 18 Global Education Review 5(3) Figure 2. Parisandra student work(Puneet, student work, October 3, 20 15) Additional data obtained from the pre-test showed that students at Parisandra and Pro gram m atic D iffe re n ce s Sam udra were strong in num ber recogn ition and Despite guidelin es set up by the National place value. It was difficult to assess their Institute of Open Schooling Program , it is knowledge of word problem s, fractions, im portant to note the flexibility for conversions, and geom etry because these item s im plem enting the program . The policy outlines were left blan k by the m ajority of students on that students should be introduced to the test. The concepts students struggled with were content areas in order to pass the 10 th standard those taught in upper prim ary or early board exam s; however, students had a choice of secondary, when they dropped out. Sam udra’s what subjects they would like to study. In students, all of whom passed the 10 th standard addition, students were not required to take all board exam s, did better on their post-tests. We exam s at once, but rather they could space noticed im provem ents in solving word them out. At Parisandra, for exam ple, students problem s, conceptual understanding of planned to take one exam paper per m onth. fractions, and geom etry. Only one student still Both Sam udra and Parisan dra had sm all struggled with these concepts -- Sunil. He did class sizes from which the students benefited. m anage to pass his 10 th standard board exam ; Sam udra’s class size was around 10 – 12 however, he opted to go into a vocational track students per class, and Parisandra had only 6 – 7 after graduatin g high school – a train ing students per class. In their interviews students program to fix hardware on com puters. from Sam udra said they preferred the sm aller In general, Parisandra’s students found classes. Youth from both program s also said the post-test we adm inistered difficult. Only two that their teachers cared m ore than the teachers students who com pleted the post-test, Kalpana they previously had; this could also be the result and Ram esh, were accurate with a m ajority of of sm all class size, or better teacher-student their responses. The other students still interactions. struggled with the sam e concepts that were in Sam udra, however, m odeled their the pre-test. Unfortunately, data on whether the program very closely to typical 10 th standard students from Parisandra passed their 10 th classes. The program ’s director said she wanted standard board exam s, or what they are doing the students to easily transition back into post- now was not m ade available to the lead author. secondary education or alternative program s. Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India 19 Therefore, students in Sam udra’s program took only had a choice of which exam s they wanted to all the 10 th standard board exam s, which take, but also when they would take them . included m athem atics and science. To address Although socio-em otional skills are gaps their students faced in m athem atics, for im portant, particularly for students who have exam ple, Sam udra’s pre-tests indicated that the faced so m any challenges early on in their lives, students were weak in fractions and division. there is also a danger of focusing too m uch on Sam udra spent the first three to four m onths of these skills because doin g so could interfere with the school year re-teaching foundational their self-determ ination or their perseverance to concepts, such as building a strong num ber pursue post-secondary education. Students at sense and m asterin g fractions and division . Sam udra had m ore of a balance in that they were Parisandra, on the other hand, focused supported by program staff to com e back to their curriculum on socio-em otional skills. school, who understood the challenges they were Parisandra wanted their students to not only facing, but at the sam e tim e encouraged the focus on the academ ic; but, through a self- students to continue to post-secondary learnin g and open classroom approach, they education. wanted their students to develop em otionally, The teachers at Parisandra, wanted the socially and physically. They wanted their students to be able to live as productive citizens students to have self-determ ination . after they graduated and get jobs. They Parisandra’s teachers would only allow encouraged their students to pursue their students who were academ ically capable to take aspirations (Parisandra program coordinator, the 10 th standard board exam s through the NIOS personal com m unication, October 3, 210 5). For program . Students took the subjects they exam ple, Surya wanted to becom e a preferred and at their own pace. Therefore, Bharatanatyam dancer. Parisandra organized teachin g students vocation al skills like spoken dance lessons for him and adjusted his English was im portant at Parisandra. curriculum accordingly. Parisandra did teach m athem atics; however, it was not rigorous and did not follow a So lu tio n Pa th w ays specific curriculum . Teachers followed online We also explored how the students approached guides to teach m athem atics and m ade sure they problem solving. This was done in part to covered the m ajor topics of the curriculum . One further understand the gaps they had in teacher said, “Our goal is for them to pass their m athem atics, but also to see their thought 10 th standard board exam s. Som e subjects are processes. After the first two m eetin gs where we easier to pass than others” (teacher from learned about the students’ fam ily and Parisandra, personal com m unication 20 15). educational backgrounds, we asked them to Subjects which were easier to pass included solve problem s included in a 10 th standard com puters (knowledge of Microsoft word, excel, m athem atics textbook. We gave the students and data entry software). For exam ple, all of four problem s – two at one m eetin g and two at the students interviewed opted out of taking another m eetin g. They were then asked to m athem atics and chose data entry. Data entry, explain how they arrived at their answer. they were advised by their teachers, was easier to Strikin g differences existed between the pass than m athem atics. They also decided to way Sam udra’s and Parisan dra’s students space out their exam s and not take them all at approached the problem s. As soon they saw the once. Therefore, students from Parisandra not problem , all of Sam udra’s students wrote down what was given , what needed to be solved, and 20 Global Education Review 5(3) any questions/ approaches they plan ned to use to write down their problem -solvin g process, at the top of their papers. They used the rest of they struggled with this too. Both Ram esh and the paper to solve the problem . Although only Kalpana scribbled down a few num bers given in two students from Sam udra answered the the problem and then put down their pencils problem s correctly, all of them wrote down their slightly frustrated. “Is this necessary?” is what logic on how they tried to solve the problem . Ram esh kept asking in Kan nada. After 5 When the students were asked about the process m inutes of waiting for them to explain their of solving the problem , they were all able to answers verbally or in writing, we m oved onto explain what was given to them , what needed to the next problem . be found, and their logic for solving the problem . Parisandra’s students had a different approach to solvin g the problem s. Two of Below is an exam ple of a student’s work from Sam udra where the student wrote out what was given in the problem , what needed to be Parisandra’s students solved all the problem s solved, and how he solved the problem (in correctly; however, they didn’t write down Hindi). He wrote out what was provided in the anythin g on their papers. When asked how they problem -- that the cost of 10 books is 150 solved the problem s, Ram esh told the lead rupees. He then wrote that he needs to figure author, “Aunty, don’t ask m e…this is the out how m any books he can get for 60 0 rupees. answer.” (Ram esh, personal com m unication , He showed his work on the right-hand side. H e J anuary 21, 20 15). Kalpan a also said, “I don’t then cam e back to the center and solved the know Aunty.” (Kalpana, personal problem , writing: therefore, 60 0 rupees would com m unication , J anuary 21, 20 15). When asked give you 40 books. Figure 3. Student work from Sam udra (Abhishek, student work, J anuary 21, 20 16) Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India All the students from Sam udra attem pted 21 Another interestin g findin g is that based the problem s given to them ; however, other than on the interviews, Parisandra students did not Ram esh and Kalpana, students from Parisandra see how m ath could be relevant in their everyday could not solve the problem s, but also did not lives, particularly in term s of career options. attem pt them . Surya said, “I don’t like m ath.” Sam udra’s students were better inform ed. This (Surya, personal com m unication, J anuary 21, im pacted the student aspirations in the field. 20 15) and changed the topic to what he last None of Parisandra’s students wanted to go into learned in dance. In fact, all of Parisandra’s STEM disciplines, sayin g it would be too students com plain ed a little when the lead difficult, whereas Sam udra’s students were author told them she was giving them m ath aware of where they would use m ath in their problem s. In the first three interviews with the careers. Most of Sam udra’s students decided to students, the lead author spent the entire tim e go into com m erce and understood how m ath talking to the students about their lives and was valuable in this field. Abhishek, one of educational experiences. They seem ed to en joy Sam udra’s highest perform ing students who telling their stories. So, when the lead author perform ed average for his standard / grade level cam e to their school the third and fourth tim e in m athem atics, knew the different STEM fields with m ath problem s, they were not happy. quite well. He said that after m uch Puneet said, “I like talkin g to you Aunty…can we consideration , he was goin g to study to becom e a just talk?” (Puneet, personal com m unication , pilot where he would use m ath and science. J anuary 21, 20 16). These types of responses can be reflective of the different fam ily backgrounds Co n clu s io n students from Sam udra an d Parisandra com e In this exploratory and descriptive study, from . students shared m any personal experiences and As m ention ed earlier, students from factors that im pacted their ability to com plete Parisandra cam e from broken hom es or were their m athem atics education, such as poverty, orphans; therefore, they acted m ore attached to physical and em otional violence in fam ilies, the lead author than the students from Sam udra. alcohol addiction, and m igration which can all The students at Sam udra also enjoyed the lead lead to chronic or toxic stress. As a result, these author’s com pany by inviting her to their hom es students chose to com plete their education by an for tea and to watch m ovies with them . Their alternative route, attendin g program s adherin g com m unity support system was stronger – they to the National Institute of Open Schooling had both parents at hom e, and also extended curriculum . Both the Sam udra and Parisandra fam ily or friends n earby. When the lead author program s guided students through the NIOS declined tea or a m ovie, they were not upset. curriculum , rather than a self-study approach; In conversations with the students from however, their approaches differed due to their both Sam udra and Parisan dra on their different target populations. Ultim ately, in our understanding of the problem s presented to sam ple, students at the Sam udra program fared them , and also on their perform ance on the pre better on their 10 th standard exam s. However, and post-test given to them , we noticed that they the two program s varied in their approach, with were able to recognize num bers fluently. Parisandra focusin g m ore on the socio- Although we were unable to m ake this em otional well-bein g of their students. connection with our data, previous research Although students in our sam ple had showed that students’ experience in their fam ily different paths to their NIOS program , including busin esses or outside work added to their various social and educational structures that inform al m ath skills (Sitabkhan , 20 12). 22 Global Education Review 5(3) played a role in their m ath perform ance and 5. En co u rage ap p lica tio n o f choice of vocation, students in our study had m ath e m atics . Providin g opportun ities to prasakti (pronounced “prah-sahk-tee,” which in apply the m athem atical con cepts learned Sanskrit m eans “perseverance”). All students in and connecting them to daily life would the study should be recogn ized for their m ake m ath interesting and m otivate perseverance to com e back to school to pass students. For students who m ay struggle their 10 th standard and com plete high school. with self-esteem in m athem atics and m otivation , m aking m athem atics Im p lica tio n s m eaningful and applicable to their lives will As organizations consider setting up an increase engagem ent with the subject. alternative pathway for high school graduation or com pleting 10 th standard exam s, the following 6. Th e re are co n s e q u e n ce s . Be aware of the consequences of the program structure im plications from this research will help inform on student choices/ tracks in STEM. program m atic decisions. a. 1. need m ore external support and a strengthsbased approach. Students, overall, benefit from consistent, routine, predictable, nurturing, and stim ulating interactions. Consider if your students are at-risk for toxic 2. entered com m erce degrees and one Kn o w yo u r p o p u latio n . Students m ay be at-risk for or experiencing toxic stress and Four out of six students from Sam udra decided to work. b. With com m erce degrees, past graduates of Sam udra’s program have had difficulty finding jobs because of the saturated m arket in the field. By incorporatin g these best practices into or chronic stress from livin g in poverty and alternative graduation program s, educational fam ily situations. centers can support m argin alized youth achieve As s e s s s tu d e n t p rio r kn o w le d ge . in m athem atics and m ove closer to their high Students m ay enter alternative program s school graduation goals an d have better with various degrees of previous educational opportun ities for secondary education, experience in m athem atics. Adm inisterin g vocational education, or em ploym ent. an assessm ent at the begin ning of the school 3. year will help teachers know the baseline Lim ita tio n s o f Th e Stu d y an d Fu tu re levels of their students and adjust their Re s e arch instruction based on studen ts’ needs. This study was conducted with a relatively sm all Exp lo re s tu d e n t s o lu tio n p ath w ays . sam ple size (N = 12) and the population was Durin g the baseline assessm ent, attention m ade up of students from only two NIOS should be paid to the solution pathways that program s. The sam ple was taken from low- students use to arrive at their answer. socioeconom ic class section s of Mum bai and Students with conceptual understanding Bangalore, and represents only a piece of the should be able to explain and justify their diversity in the country. More research can be approaches. done to determ ine how other NIOS program s 4. On e s ize d o e s n o t fit all. There is no one- are m eeting the n eeds of their students. Also, size-fits-all program . Program m atic this was an exploratory study and the pre-test approaches to help the students pass the 10 th and post-test results were n ot norm ed. standard board vary. Knowledge of the student population and their background experience should in form course offerings. Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India 23 N o te s Student perspectives on accom m odations A strengths-based approach is on e in which access and obstacles. Journal of “teachers identify and ackn owledge the assets Postsecondary ducation and Disability , and capacities of students, understand and value their cultural ways of being, and support and 23(2), 112 – 128 . Center on the Developing Child (20 17). Toxic create opportunities for learning through stress. 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Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Certification: It does m atter. Journal of Higher Secondary Education (20 15). Teacher Education. 36(3), 13-15. Indian General m athem atics: Part 1 (Standard Express. (20 12). Poor PISA ranks: H RD X). Pune: Maharashtra State Board of seeks reason. Retrieved from Secondary and Higher Secondary http:/ / www.indianexpress.com / news/ poo Education. r-pisa-ran ks-hrd-seeks-reason/ 896777/ 0 Kam enetz, A. (20 15). Delin quent. Dropout. At- Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (20 15b). Risk. When words becom e labels. General m athem atics: Part 2 (Standard Retrieved from X). Pune: Maharashtra State Board of http:/ / www.npr.org/ blogs/ ed/ 20 15/ 0 4/ 2 Secondary and Higher Secondary 8/ 399949478/ delinquent-dropout-at- Education. risk-whats-in-a-nam e Karande, S., Mahajan , V., & Kulkarni, M. Martin, J .E., Portley, J ., & Graham , J .W. (20 10 ). Teaching students with disabilities self (20 0 9). Recollections of learning disabled determ ination skills to equalize access and adolescents of their schooling experiences: increase opportunities for postsecondary A qualitative study. Indian Journal of educational success. In S.F. Shaw, J .W. Medical Science, 63(9), 38 2 – 391 Madaus, & L.L. Dukes (Eds.), Preparing Karande, S., Sholapurwala, R., & Kulkarn i, M. (20 11). Managin g specific learnin g students w ith disabilities for college success: A practical guide to transition disability in schools in India. Indian planning, (pp. 65-81). Baltim ore, MD: Pediatrics, 48(7), 515 – 520 . Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. Ketterlin-Geller, L. R., Chard, D. J ., & Fien, H . (20 0 8). Makin g connections in m athem atics: Conceptual m athem atics intervention for low-perform in g students. McDonough, P.M. (1997). Choosing colleges: How social class and schools structure opportunity . Albany: SUNY Press. Merriam , S. (20 0 9). Qualitative research: A Rem edial and Special Education, 29(1), guide to design and im plem entation. San 33 – 45. Francisco: J ossey-Bass. Konrad, M., Fowler, C. H., Walker, A. R., Test, National Institute of Open Schooling. (20 12). D.W., & Wood, W.M. (20 0 7). Effects of The National Institute of Open Schooling. self-determ ination interven tions on the Retrieved from http:/ / www.nios.ac.in / academ ic skills of students with learnin g National Research Council. (1989). Every body disabilities. Learning Disability counts: A report to the nation on the Quarterly , 30 (2), 89 – 113. future of m athem atics education. Kosine, N. R. (20 0 7). Preparing students with learnin g disabilities for postsecondary Washin gton, DC: National Academ y Press OECD (20 17), Starting Strong 20 17: Key OECD education: What the research literature Indicators on Early Childhood Education tells us about transition program s. and Care, Starting Strong, OECD Journal of Special Education Leadership, Publishing, Paris, 20 (2), 93 – 10 4. http:/ / dx.doi.org/ 10 .1787/ 9789264276116 Lareau, A. (1989). Hom e advantage: Social class and parent intervention in -en. Phillips, D. & Schweisfurth, M. (20 0 8). elem entary education. New York: Falm er Com parative and international Press. education: An introduction to theory , Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India m ethod and practice. Lon don: Continuum . Press Inform ation Bureau, Govern m ent of India. Sitabkhan, Y. A. (20 12) “¡Chalinas a 20 Pesos!”: Econom ic Ideas Developed Through Children’s Strategies for Successful Selling (20 11). India stats : Million plus cities in In Oaxaca, Mexico. University of India as per Census 20 11. Retrieved from Californ ia, Berkeley. http:/ / pibm um bai.gov.in/ scripts/ detail.as p?releaseId=E20 11IS3. Pritchett, L. & Beatty, A. (20 12). The negative 25 Thom a, C.A., & Wehm eyer, M.L. (20 0 5). Selfdeterm ination and the tran sition to postsecondary education. In E.E. Getzel & consequences of overam bitious curricula P.Wehm an (Eds.), Going to college: in developing countries. CGD W orking Expanding opportunities for people w ith Paper 293. Washin gton, D.C.: Center for disabilities, (pp.49 – 68). Baltim ore, MD: Global Developm ent. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. http:/ / www.cgdev.org/ content/ publicatio ns/ detail/ 1426129 Ram aa, S. (20 15). Arithm etic difficulties am ong socially disadvantaged children and children with dyscalculia. In Chinn , S. (Ed.). The Routledge intern ational Trainor, A.A. (20 0 8). Usin g cultural and social capital to im prove postsecondary outcom es and expand transition m odels for youth with disabilities. The Journal of Special Education, 42(3), 148 – 162. United Nations Developm ent Program . (20 0 9). handbook of dy scalculia and m ath Hum an developm ent report. Retrieved learning difficulties. Routledge: New from York. http:/ / hdr.undp.org/ en/ reports/ global/ h Srikantaiah (20 0 8). Indigenous know ledge initiatives at the W orld Bank, N ational dr20 0 9/ Useem , E. (1992). Middle schools and m ath Institutes of Health, and Pennsy lvania groups: Parents’ in volvem ent in children’s State University (Doctoral Dissertation ). placem ent. Sociology of Education. 65, Retrieved from Drum Digital Library 263-279. University of Maryland, College Park. (530 3) Srikantaiah & Ralain gita, W. (20 14). Teacher education and professional developm ent Vavrus, F. & Bartlett, L. (20 0 6). Com paratively knowing: Makin g a case for the vertical case study. Current Issues in Com parative Education, 8 (2), 95 – 10 3. in Global Mathem atics. In Wisem an, A. Webb, K. W., Patterson , K. B., Syverud, S. M., & and Anderson, E. (Eds.). Annual review Seabrooks-Blackm ore, J .J . (20 0 8). of com parative and intern ational Evidenced based practices that prom ote education 20 14. Em erald Group transition to postsecondary education: Publishing Lim ited: Un ited Kingdom . Listening to a decade of expert voices. Starkey, P. & Klin e, A. (20 0 8). Sociocultural influences on young children’s Exceptionality , 16, 192 – 20 6. Wehm eyer, M. L. (20 0 4). Beyond self- m athem atical knowledge. In O. N. Saracho determ ination: Causal agen cy theory. & B. Spodek (Eds.). Contem porary Journal of Developm ental and Phy sical Perspectives on Mathem atics in Early Disabilities, 16(4), 337 – 359. Childhood Education (pp. 253– 276). Wehm eyer, M.L. (1994). Perceptions of self- Charlotte, NC: Inform ation Age determ ination and psychological Publishing. em powerm ent of adolescen ts with m ental retardation. Education and Training in 26 Global Education Review 5(3) Mental Retardation and Developm ental Asia and the US, but she has also worked in Disability , 29(1), 9 – 21. East Asia and in Eastern and Southern Africa. Deepa has a Ph.D. in International Wehm eyer, M. L., Sands, D. J ., Doll, B., & Palm er, S. (1997). The developm ent of self-determ ination and im plications for educational interventions with students with disabilities. International Journal of Disability , Developm ent an d Education, Education Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park. For more inform ation about Deepa visit: www.deepasrikantaiah.com 44(4), 30 5– 328 . Zacarian, D. Alvarez-Ortiz, D., & Haynes, J . (20 17). Teaching to strengths: Supporting students living w ith traum a, violence, and chronic stress. Alexan dria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Developm ent (ASCD). Retrieved from http:/ / www.ascd.org/ publications/ books/ 1170 35/ chapters/ The_ Urgent_ Need_ for_ a_ Strengths-Based_ Approach.aspx Abo u t th e Au th o rs D r. D e e p a Srikan taiah is a Senior Researcher with the USAID funded Reading within Reach Project hosted by the University Research Co., LLC (URC). Broadly Deepa’s research interests are in m athem atics, science, and art education. She has extensive experience conducting qualitative research. Deepa has worked at the World Bank, the Global Partnership for Education, with USAID contractors, nonprofits, Universities, and was awarded a Fulbright to India (20 15-20 16). Deepa has experience working on global m athem atics, reading, and STEM education program s; leading professional developm ent programs for teachers and working professionals; building partnerships; and in research and evaluation. In 20 17, Deepa founded Artlight Global, Inc. a philanthropic organization providing project-based learning in STEM and art. Deepa’s regional focus is South D r. Min dy Eich h o rn is an assistant professor of Education at Gordon College in Wenham , MA. Mindy currently teaches courses on special education assessm ent, the IEP process, and inclusion, while supervising undergraduate teacher candidates. Her research interests are centered on m ath learning disabilities and how number sense difficulties impact student learning throughout K-12 m ath education. She is also a m athem atics specialist at the Boston Children’s Hospital Learning Disabilities Program . Mindy spent m ore than six years in India as a special education consultant and inclusion specialist. Prior to working in India, Mindy was a special education teacher in the Hartford (CT) Public Schools. Mas arrat Kh an , M.A., CD T, CALT, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Maharashtra Dyslexia Association. She holds Master’s degrees in Clinical Psychology and English Literature from Mum bai University, and is a Certified Dyslexia Therapist and a Certified Academ ic Language Therapist. She is a m em ber of the Academ ic Language Therapy Association, USA, and is registered with the Rehabilitation Council of India, New Delhi, where she has served on the Expert Panel for Learning Disability. Determ ination of m arginalized y outh to overcom e and achieve in m athem atics in India Ap p e n d ix Pre -te s t/ Po s t-te s t 1. 2. Write the following words in num bers: a. Four thousand five hundred b. Nin e lakh two thousand three hundred and ten Write the place value of the underlined num ber: a. 4, 38 9 b. 25, 761 3. Ram has 38 pigeons, 19 of them flew away, how m any pigeons does Ram have now? 4. If 1 house gets 2 liters of m ilk, how m any houses will get 70 liters of m ilk? 5. If 1 pen costs Rs. 7, how m uch do 35 pens cost? 6. Solve the fractions below: a. 7. 2/ 7 + 7/ 7 = b. 8/ 9 – 4/ 9 = c. 2/ 5 + 6/ 10 = d. 3/ 4 – 2/ 5 = Fill in the blan ks: a. 1 cm = _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ m m b. What is the equation to find a trian gle? c. am x an = d. 50 0 gram s = _ _ _ _ _ kilos e. (9)2 = _ _ _ _ _ _ f. 1 hour = _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ m inutes Lis t o f in te rvie w qu e s tio n s Backgro u n d a. Nam e b. Date of birth c. Education Experience d. Where they are from e. Fam ily background Sch o o lin g Exp e rie n ce a. Can you tell m e about your schooling? b. Where did you go to prim ary school? 27 28 Global Education Review 5(3) c. Did your parents or elders read to you at hom e? d. What type of gam es did you play at hom e growin g up? e. Do you work? What do you do? f. What type of gam es do you play now? g. What’s your favorite subject in school? Why? a. If m ath and science – why? b. If not, why not m ath and science? h. What do you learn in m ath class? (can also inquire about teachers here) i. What do you learn in science class? (can also in quire about teachers here) j. How would you use m ath or science in the real world? Ou ts id e o f Sch o o l a. Tell m e about your daily schedule. b. What tim e do you go to bed at night, and what tim e do you wake up in the m orn in g? c. Tell m e what you do for exercise. d. What m akes you happy? e. What m akes you sm ile? f. What m akes you laugh? g. What m akes you sad? h. If you have a problem in life, tell m e how you go about solving it i. a. Who do you approach for help? b. How do you m anage stress? c. What do you do to feel calm during a stressful situation ? What do your teachers do when you are stuck on a problem ? How do your teachers help you with challenging problem s? Math Pro ble m s The cost of 10 books is Rs. 150 . How m any such books can be purchased for Rs. 60 0 ? Hem a purchased a wrist watch and a wall clock for herself. The cost of the wrist watch is thrice the cost of the wall clock. Total cost of the wrist watch and a wall clock is Rs. 2,0 0 0 . Find the cost of a wrist watch and a wall clock.