The Senior Year Is One Step Along the Education Pipeline, Not an End Point

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The Senior Year Is One Step Along the Education
Pipeline, Not an End Point

• Researchers who study learning and cognition
  describe mathematical learning as a progression
  in which conceptual understanding builds
  logically, and expertise is developed gradually.
• Taking four years of math greatly improves a
  students college readiness.
• Students not intending to pursue math-intensive
  majors should be able to select from a number of
  fourth year capstone courses to maintain and
  extend their prior mathematical knowledge and
  connect mathematics instruction with other
  interests.

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Advanced Math in 11th and 12th Grade Builds on a
Students Analytic and Problem-Solving Skills
Average Proficiency Probability Scores at Level
4 Understanding of Intermediate-Level Math
Concepts and/or Multi-Step Solutions to Word
Problems
Math Courses Taken During 11th and 12th Grade
Source Bozick, R., and Ingels, S.J. (2008).
Mathematics Coursetaking and Achievement at the
End of High School Evidence from the Education
Longitudinal Study of 2002. Washington, DC U.S.
Department of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics.
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There Is a Gap Between High School Graduation
Requirements and College Readiness

• I think the biggest thing for them is, here,
  theyve graduated from high school but they come
  and take our placement test and theyre still in
  pre-college reading, writing and math and they
  dont understand that if they stop taking math in
  their sophomore year that, you know, they dont
  get it...and I think the sad thing is that they
  say...no one told me that I should be taking
  math all the way through. They just werent
  warned or they dont remember being warned, so
  now theyre having to pay for it, and that is
  extremely frustrating.
• - Community college advisor

Source Venezia, A. et al. (2003). Betraying the
College Dream How Disconnected K-12 and
Postsecondary Education Systems Undermine Student
Aspirations. Policy Report, Stanford Universitys
Bridge Project.
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There Is a Gap Between High School Graduation
Requirements and College Readiness
Percentage of U.S. First-Year Students in
Two-Year and Four-Year Institutions Requiring
Remediation
Nearly three out of 10 first-year students are
placed immediately into a remedial course upon
entering college, despite having met high school
graduation requirements.
Source National Center for Education Statistics.
(2003) Remedial Education at Degree-Granting
Postsecondary Institutions in Fall 2000.
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Taking a fourth year of math in high school
better prepares students for college
ACT-Tested High School Graduates Meeting College
Algebra Benchmark by Mathematics Course Sequence
Source ACT. (2004) Crisis at the Core Preparing
All Students for College and Work.
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Taking a fourth year of math in high school
better prepares students for college
Mean SAT Mathematics Score, by Years of Math
Taken in High School
Source College Board. (2006). 2006 College-Bound
Seniors Total Group Profile Report.
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and reduces the need for remediation in college
Percentage of ACT-Tested Graduates in Three
States Enrolled in Remedial Math During Their
First Year of College, by High School Math
Course Sequence
Source ACT. (2007) Rigor At Risk Reaffirming
Quality in the High School Core Curriculum.
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Students who take advanced courses are more
likely to earn a college degree
Bachelors degree attainment by highest level of
math reached, high school classes of 1982 and 1992
Source Adelman, Clifford. (2006) The Toolbox
Revisited Paths to Degree Completion from High
School through College, Table 5, U.S. Department
of Education.
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The Majority of Graduates Would Have Taken Harder
Courses, Particularly in Mathematics
Knowing what you know today about the
expectations of college/work
Would have taken more challenging courses in at
least one area Math Science English
Would have taken more challenging courses in
Source Peter D. Hart Research Associates/Public
Opinion Strategies. (2005) Rising to the
Challenge Are High School Graduates Prepared for
College and Work? Washington, DC Achieve.
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To Date, Only 18 States Require Four Years of
Mathematics
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What Do Math Teachers Say?

• In secondary school, all students should learn
  an ambitious common foundation of mathematical
  ideas and applications. This shared mathematical
  understanding is as important for students who
  will enter the workplace as it is for those who
  will pursue further study in mathematics and
  science. All students should study mathematics in
  each of the four years that they are enrolled in
  high schooland their mathematics education
  should guarantee access to a broad spectrum of
  career and educational options.
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

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