Maryland high school students are not college ready in math. More specifically, in 2006-2007, 30% of “college prep” students and 42% of Montogomery County graduates needed remediation in math. That’s kind of breathtaking. The only consolation is that the rest of Maryland did even worse.
But that’s what the Baltimore Sun reported this morning in their story, A failing grade for Md. math: What is taught in high schools seen as insufficient for college. The story takes a look at a report (executive summary) put out on April 30 by the Abell Foundation (Question for the Sun: Why did this take so long??)
From the report:
The overriding question addressed is: Does successful completion of mathematics courses and the Algebra HSA, as prescribed by the VSC, lead to mastery of the skills required for the Accuplacer tests? With the exception of the recently updated Algebra II state curriculum, the answer is no.
From the Sun:
For Gabrielle Martino, holder of a doctorate in math from the Johns Hopkins University and a co-author of the Abell Foundation report, the bottom line is that students are being harmed because they have to pay for the remedial classes. When they get to college, “they are uniformly shocked that they were put into remedial math,” she said.
The report recommends that the Maryland State Department of Education revamp its math standards and curriculum. The standards and curriculum determine what is tested on the Maryland School Assessments and, therefore, the material teachers are told to cover in their classes. And each year, the number of students passing the math MSAs has gone up, even as graduates are increasingly in need of remedial classes.
State education officials do not believe that major changes to the standards are needed.
“State education officials do not believe major changes are needed.” Wow.
The report is particularly critical of the Algebra I High School Assessment, one of the tests every high school student now needs to pass to graduate high school.
“It is not what any mathematician would consider an algebra course,” said Stephen Wilson, a math professor at Hopkins and a co-author of the Abell report. “It is Maryland’s image of what math is without consulting a mathematician.”
One of the big differences? The HSA allows the use of calculators. The Accuplacer test, used by colleges for placement, does not.
Dixie Stack, director of curriculum at the state education department says the HSA was meant to establish a floor, not constitute what an Algebra I course should be. Furthermore, “she does not believe the state should make changes until after the release of the national standards being developed by a grass-roots coalition of 46 states. To do so would be a waste of time and taxpayer dollars, she said, because Maryland probably will adopt those standards.”
State school board member Kate Walsh disagrees, saying change could take years.
“Maryland is taking a go-slow approach,” the state school board member said. “I am afraid the push for national standards, while a good sign, will delay the equally important examination we need to take. … I would prefer to move aggressively.”
So much for Dr. Weast’s claimed that the MCPS curriculum is backmapped to the AP.
I’ve recently come across Steve Wilson and some of his writing about k12 math. The following is from http://www.math.jhu.edu/~wsw/ED/panel
“One of the other panelist is the
principal of a major boy’s private school in Baltimore.
Before being the Principal of the Upper School he was the
Academic Dean and before that Head of the Mathematics
Department. He said something which I found truly
astonishing. He thinks so highly of technology (i.e. he has
made his students so dependent on calculators) that he tells
his students that when they visit colleges they should
interview the chair of the mathematics department and find
out if they allow the use of calculators. If they don’t then
they should consider the college to not be a good fit.”
Interesting! Thanks for sharing this.
Interesting, though, that the report notes that the Algebra II standards are aligned with the Accuplacer math test. This seems to imply that kids who choose not to take Algebra II are the ones that end up in remedial math in college. Does that mean that the High School graduation standards should be changed to require Algebra II? Or that guidance counselors, students and parents be warned that if a student opts out of math, they may well need to take remedial classes in college.
Also, one problem may be that kids typically take Algebra II in 10th or 11th grade. If they then avoid math until enrolling in college, they are then 1-2 years removed from having done any math. If they do no review, it is not surprising that they would have trouble with factoring and even math facts.
To me, this is two separate questions: what is required for HS graduation (at least one year of algebra) and what is required for college readiness (algebra II). I’m not convinced that non-college bound kids should be denied a HS diploma if they don’t take a second year of algebra.