Why Four Years of Mathematics is the Best Option for High School Graduates?

Transcription

1 May 18, 2013 Why Four Years of Mathematics is the Best Option for High School Graduates? The Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM) supports giving high school graduates more options by requiring students to study mathematics each of the four years while in high school. Historically, the purpose of secondary mathematics education is to provide students opportunities to learn mathematical content, skills, teamwork, critical thinking and flexible problem-solving strategies needed for careers and college success. Common Core standards emphasize rigorous content and applications of higher-order skills aligned with college and career expectations necessary preparation for success for all high school graduates. 1 These standards assist in preparing our students for their life after graduation, whether it is to join the workforce or to attend college. How are we doing? In spite of the numerous good schools, excellent teachers, and successful students in United States; there are concerns regarding student achievement in mathematics. Too many students are graduating from high school without the necessary skills and knowledge they need to succeed in college or the world of work. Most high school students graduate with a diploma but are not prepared for college. More than three-quarters of public high school students graduated on time with a regular diploma (NCES, 2011). 2 Fifty-two percent of the graduating class of 2012 took the ACT exam. Nationally, only 25 percent of high school graduates passed all four subjects on ACT indicative of being ready for college. 3 These rates are even lower for poor and minority students. Most high school graduates need remedial help in college. More than 70 percent of graduates quickly take the next step into two- and four-year colleges, but at least 28 percent of those students immediately take remedial English or mathematics courses (NCES, 2011). 4 1 Common Core State Standards for Mathematics retrieved from on February 16, National Center of Education Statistics The Condition of Education ACT, Inc The Condition of College and career readiness in 2012 National. 4 Ibid. Page 1 of 5

2 Routinely, professors report that freshmen arrive unprepared for the rigors of college work (Alliance for Excellence Education, September, 2007). 5 Most college students never attain a degree. Unfortunately, while enrollment has increased, graduation rates have not increased at the same rate. In fact, many institutions lose one out of every four students they enroll in the freshman year alone. When looking at six-year graduation rates for four-year colleges and universities, the data shows that barely six out of ten (63%) first-time full-time degree-seeking college freshmen graduate within six years. 6 Significantly fewer blacks and Hispanics than whites attain bachelor s degree. Many factors influence this attrition, but the preparation students receive in high school has been found to be the greatest predictor of bachelor s degree attainment. The courses students take in high school are more predictive of success than family income and race. In fact, the gap in degree attainment is cut in half when white and minority students all enter college having completed a strong high school curriculum. 7 Most employers say high school graduates lack basic skills. More than 60 percent of employers question whether a high school diploma means that a typical student has learned even the basics, and they rate graduates skills in grammar, spelling, writing and basic mathematics as only fair or poor. Employers are paying a stiff price for the lack of academic preparation among workers. One study estimated the cost of remedial training in reading, writing and mathematics to a single state s employers at nearly $40 million a year. 8 Most employers question the preparation that high schools provide. A majority of employers give high schools a grade of C, D or F for their success in preparing students for achievement on the job. 9 They rate literacy and critical thinking skills as much more important than jobspecific or computer skills. Jobs available that cannot find people who have the skills. There are several industries that cannot find people to replace retiring skilled workers in the areas of industry, utilities, transportation and more. The dilemma is that many of these jobs will be decline by millions of jobs over the next decade. Yet there will be 3 million openings due to retirement. The 5 Alliance for Excellence Education, September, High School Teaching for the Twenty-First Century: Preparing Students for College retrieved from 6 The Education Trust Empty caps and gowns: New analysis reveals deep problems in the graduation rates at fouryear colleges and universities, but finds that some institutions do a much better job graduating their students than others. 7 US Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, The tool box revisited: Paths to degree completion from high school through college. 8 Mackinac Center for Public Policy, The Cost of Remedial Education, John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Rutgers University, Making the Grade? Page 2 of 5

3 openings do not require advanced degrees, but do require workers with solid mathematics skills and other disciplines and will require vocational training. Yet, many of these jobs will be sent off shore to countries that offer cheaper labor (Blinder March, 2007). 10 Global job market impacting US job opportunities The vast majority of well-paying jobs used to require that the employees live inside the US in order to perform the work. However, today with the Internet, common technical standards, and work-flow software now supports that work can be carved up into parts, sent out across the globe, and then reassembled into a final product. 11 Added to these technological advances was a quickly growing workforce overseas in Russia, Eastern Europe, China, and India as a result of social and political changes there and in other developing nations. As New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman (2005) put it, Suddenly more people from different places could collaborate with other people on different kinds of work and share different kinds of knowledge than ever before. 12 This great doubling of the workforce, has clear implications for jobs in the United States and for students who will soon be competing for those jobs. Chief among those implications is the increasing off-shoring of US jobs (Blinder, 2006). 13 In the past our US high school students were viewed as receiving a superior quality education with a high graduation rate as compared to other industrialized countries which gave way to access to higher education and our economy s ability to make efficient use of human capital. But these historic advantages are slipping away. For instance, the US high school graduation rate, once the best in the world, now ranks 18th among industrialized countries Blinder. A. S. (2007, March). How many U.S. jobs might be offshorable? CEPS Working Paper No Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Center for Economic Policy Studies. 11 Levy, F. & Murnane, R. J. (2007). How computerized work and globalization shape human skill demands. In Suarez- Orozco, M. M. (Ed.), Learning in the global era: International perspectives on globalization and education (pp ). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (p. 168) 12 Friedman, T. L. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (p ) See also Freeman, R. (2006, August). The great doubling: The challenge of the new global labor market. Unpublished paper available at 13 Blinder, A. S. (2006). Activities that do not require physical contact or geographical proximity are most at risk. CESifo Forum, 2006(2), National Science Board Science and Engineering Indicators Elementary and Secondary Mathematics and Science Education, Transition to Higher education retrieved from Page 3 of 5

4 Whether or not schools can adapt to this changing trend will affect the economy as a whole along with individual workers. Graduating students will need the higher-order thinking skills for automation along with global literacy (the knowledge of people and cultures outside the United States) to succeed in the 21st century workplace. 15 Opportunity to learn According to the professionals at College Board ( students who take geometry in high school have about an 80 percent chance of attending college regardless of race, religion and family income. Taking mathematics is important if you're considering attending a college, university or technical school. Many of these institutions require students to take at least two to three years of mathematics; however, four years of math is strongly recommended. Equity defined by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics speaks to equal access to a high quality mathematics education. MCTM understands that providing all students access does not mean equal. Each school within a district varies along with classrooms within a school varies. There are other variables, some students who may need accommodations while some do not. The research is clear: the key to preparing students for college is rigorous high school course work (ACT 2005). 16 Therefore, high schools and teachers must set college-ready expectations for students, teach rigorous content so that students can apply knowledge in new situations, and use teaching methods that engage students in learning to reason, write, and use information in complex ways. Keeping options open Even if a student is undecided on whether he/she plans to attend college or go into the world of work immediately following high school; education is fundamentally designed to support career, college and citizenship. Preparation for life (work and college ready) includes but are not limited to the ability to identify a problem, understanding it, looking at it from all sides, deciding what important information is relevant to the problem, think critically, be flexible, cooperate, manage and resolve 15 The Center for Public Education July, Defining a 21 st Century education retrieved from PDF.pdf 16 ACT Courses count: Preparing students for postsecondary success retrieved from Page 4 of 5

5 conflict, collaborate with others, think logically, examine trends, make a plan, be reflective, learn from mistakes, understand and analyze data, analyze patterns, behave in ways that indicate actions count, push pass one s fears, formulate and analyze arguments, critique the argument of others, explain solutions using logical reasoning, explore, validate through investigations, make an educationally sound guess, gain confidence through successes, be creative and innovative, and more. All of these lessons are outcomes of a high quality mathematics program. School curriculum that emphasizes following directions to find a single correct answer prepares students for jobs that, often, computers can do faster and better. Students are more likely to succeed when they can develop, propose, and advocate solutions to complex problems that do not have a single, simple "correct" answer. The implications for changing teaching practice are significant. We must as educators do more through aligning curricula and practices to be better in alignment with the college and career readiness standards also known as Common Core. The added value of the Common core is that it vertically aligns content to be taught so that students begin in kindergarten getting ready for college and careers. All educators must challenge our students. It does no good watering down curricula and failing to prepare students to be successful beyond high school. Teaching is a complex endeavor and we do not seek to over simply it. It should be noted that effective mathematics teaching requires understanding what students know, need to learn and then challenging and supporting them to learn it well (NCTM, 2000). 17 Therefore, educators must provide rigorous and relevant context for learning mathematics. Research (USED, 2006) maintains that curriculum quality as being more influential than test scores. 18 Educators must keeping in mind, what employers and universities desire in our graduates such as their ability to be a team member and to work collaboratively, thinking critically and to be flexible problem-solvers. The research supports that far too few graduates are college and career-ready. MCTM knows that we must provide our students skills necessary so that they may reach their full potential. It is our goal that all students have access to a high quality mathematics education and the best way to accomplish this, is to study mathematics each of the four years while in high school. 17 NCTM, Principles and standards for school mathematics, p US Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, The tool box revisited: Paths to degree completion from high school through college. Page 5 of 5