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| NUMBER 232 | THE NEWSPAPER OF EDUCATION RIGHTS | MAY 2005 |
| Study Gives States a D Average for Math Content | |
| Hits Overreliance on Calculators | |
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Most states' math content standards show the following problems, according to the study:
The study recommends using true math experts to develop revised standards, rather than relying on "math educators" or "curriculum experts."
'Forth grade' math guide Disputes over the best way to teach math continue to roil school districts and state boards across the country. Despite Massachusetts's A grade in the Fordham report, parents there have complained that there are insufficient math drills in elementary schools. The focus on "picturing" a problem, talking about it and coming up with several different approaches to solving it frustrates parents who believe that calculating the answer is given short shrift. (Boston Globe, 3-13-05) New York State's Board of Regents recently threw in the towel on the controversial "integrated math" approach it adopted in the 1980s, deciding to reorganize the subject into the traditional three one-year courses, each with a single focus. (New York Times, 3-15-05) (See Education Reporter, Feb. 2005 and Dec. 2004 for background on math teaching controversies.) As President Bush and the governors focus on improving the nation's high schools (see Education Reporter, Feb. 2005), math is emerging as a big hurdle. A majority of 62 high school dropouts in the federal Job Corps program surveyed by the United Negro College Fund gave "math" as the reason they quit school. On the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress test in math, only 17% of high school seniors scored at the "proficient" level - less than half the percentage scoring proficient on the reading test. Moreover, 22% of college freshmen are identified as needing remedial math, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. (Education Week, 3-23-05)
Science/engineering decline The U.S. now ranks 17th worldwide in the number of undergraduate engineers and natural scientists it produces. In 1975, it was No. 3. Many successful engineers in Silicon Valley cannot persuade their own children to enter engineering fields, in part because their children are concerned that those jobs will be outsourced overseas. (Wall Street Journal, 3-29-05)
Gates 'terrified' for U.S. workers "The percentage of a population with a college degree is important, but so are sheer numbers," he continued. "In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor's degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many graduates majoring in engineering. In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind." (New York Times Magazine, 3-3-05) Indeed, even within the U.S., Asian immigrant families dominate the high levels of math and science. A 2004 study by the National Foundation for American Policy found that 65% of the top math students and 60% of the top science students in the U.S. are children of immigrants mainly from India and China. Foreign-born high school students are disproportionately represented among the high scorers on national math and science contest. More than 50% of the engineers with Ph.D.s in the U.S. are foreign-born, as are 45% of math and computer scientists with Ph.D.s as well as life scientists and physicists, according to the National Science Foundation.
Lousy texts, unqualified teachers |
