More and more research shows that all students, no matter if they intend on going to college or straight into the workforce after high school, benefit from taking higher level math courses. It is therefore disheartening to see that 3,000 U.S. high schools don’t even offer Algebra 2, according to data released last week from Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education.
An analysis of the data by the on-line newspaper ProPublica found that, although there was a link between race and advanced math course offerings, the link was strongest by income levels, meaning our poorest students had the least access to the advanced math courses. The analysis covers up the fact that our high schools have made tremendous strides in offering more rigorous courses, especially college level Advanced Placement courses, to our most disadvantaged students. But the data shows there is still more work to be done.
But just offering more rigorous courses is not that easy. It takes resources to hire quality teachers to effectively teach those higher level courses. And during this economic downturn many districts are having to lay off teachers, not hire more. Furthermore, getting students to take and succeed in higher level math courses starts before high school. Our schools enrolling our most disadvantaged students particularly need to be able to identify students in the middle grades who are not on-track to take Algebra 1 in the 9th grade and provide the supports to help them be ready. Again doing so takes additional resources which our schools simply do not currently have.
In order to fill this “opportunity gap” of course offerings, our districts need enough counselors to ensure students enter high school on-track to succeed in high-level courses. They also need resources to higher quality teachers to teach those subjects effectively. Yes, schools can just offer advanced math courses without additional resources. But doing so wouldn’t assure students’ success, while doing it right with the needed resources can have a tremendous positive impact on student outcomes. – Jim Hull
To find out what courses your school offers check out ProPublic’s search tool here.
