Exploring Numeracy Skills of Lower Secondary School Students in Mountainous Areas of Northern Vietnam

Abstract

In 2018, among 10 key competencies that the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training has proposed in the new education curriculum, numeracy was identified as an essential competency that needs to be developed for students in the future. However, little is known about the numeracy of students in general, and of students in mountainous areas in particular. The aim of this study was to design an assessment of numeracy for students in the mountainous areas to understand their performance in numeracy. The study used the quantitative approach. A sample of 730 students in grades 6-8 from eight provinces in the mountainous areas of Northern Vietnam was recruited to participate in the study. A numeracy framework and three tests with anchor items were designed and developed to measure students’ numeracy. The results of the analysis using an approach to item response theory showed that the items had good fits with the model, and they could be used to describe numeracy learning progression with different levels of proficiency. The tests were reliable and valid, and the anchor items were good for connecting students’ competency among grades. The results also showed that Vietnamese students in mountainous areas tended to perform better in Arithmetic and Algebra problems than in real-life problems. The results provide convincing evidence of the practical performance in numeracy of students in various ethnic minority groups in Northern Vietnam.