Students are not doing better in math even after taking advanced classes in high school. Learn how it is possible to need remediation after taking advanced classes.
Math Phenomenon
One would think that if a student has taken integrated math incorporating algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus, college math should be a breeze. That is not the case and colleges are becoming very concerned.
Marie Wilde of Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA is very concerned about math skills at the college level. "Many bright students are hurried through algebra and trigonometry courses on their way toward statistics and calculus." Wilde is the chairwoman of the mathematical and information sciences program at Cedar Crest. [Genevieve Marshall, The Morning Call, mcall.com, July 5, 2007]
Remedial Classes
Colleges are overwhelmed with students needing remedial classes in math. The problem is becoming so large that colleges are forced to rewrite textbooks, do more reteaching, and even force students to take remedial courses without credit.
American College Testing
The ACT newsletter, Activity, states in spring of 2007 that the gap between what high schools are graduating and what colleges need to see is widening. ACT states, "The study, which surveyed college and high school instructors across the country, reveals that colleges generally want incoming students to have in-depth understanding of a selected number of fundamental skills and knowledge, while high schools tend to provide less in-depth instruction of a broader range of skills and topics." To sum that up:
High schools offer general information in many areas.
Colleges prefer in-depth information in fewer areas.
According to Cynthia Schmeiser, president and chief operating officer, ACT education division, "State learning standards are often too wide and not deep enough," said Schmeiser. "They are trying to cover too much ground—more ground than colleges deem necessary—in the limited time they have with students. As a result, key academic skills needed for success in college get short shrift. This is a serious problem that states must address to better prepare our young people for success after high school." [ACTIVITY, act.org, spring 2007]
Integrated Math
In the 1990s, the traditional math was replaced in many schools with "integrated math" which combined algebra and geometry. It also required large amounts of reading and writing to identify the math problems. Many students ended up problem solving math concepts on their own. Colleges want more understand of the basics. [Genevieve Marshall, The Morning Call, mcall.com, July 5, 2007]
Higher Placement
Another area where taking many advanced classes is harmful is advanced placement classes in college. Students are honored that they do not need to take basic college science or math classes. They took advanced classes and may now move ahead other students and take higher level classes. The danger in this is that the student assumes that his high school curriculum in Geometry or Advanced Biology equals the college level Biology or Geometry. This is very unlikely. Therefore, a student has an over inflated opinion of how good they actually are. Two weeks into the class and the student is going down in flames and now realizes his high school curriculum was covered in the first ten days of class.
AP Classes
Advanced Placement classes can help students compare apples to apples. If a student takes a high school AP class and the test that follows, this procedure gives the student a much better view of what college expectations will be. This student is less likely to jump toward advance classes in college unless the foundation is truly in place.
Mastery Is Key
Pushing students in math and science before they attain mastery of the basic concepts serves no purpose. Colleges want competent students, well-educated in the basics. That is more important than calculus and statistics. Many high schools that realize this problem are teaching Algebra 1 over two years allowing time for mastery.
Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
The copyright of the article College Remedial Math Increasing in Curriculum Issues is owned by Barbara Pytel. Permission to republish College Remedial Math Increasing in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
I was never a whiz at math during my formative years in public schools, nor
at age 50, and math is still my weakest subject. I know the basics enough
to pay my bills on time and balance a checkbook, however at my age I am in
college to earn a bachelor's degree and math is a requirement. I need to
learn math, period. The college is telling me that I need take the math
placement exam. I'm telling them that I am weak in the subject and need a
teacher to teach me, they're telling me to take the test (again) to
determine placement. I'm telling the college what I need and they need to
test me just to see me fail at it again. Why is it so difficult to take
math as it is and just see what happends from there? I'm frustrated with
math but more with the placement process, especially when I know that I
need a teacher to teach me.
Jun 24, 2009 8:42 PM
Guest :
I know exactly what you mean. Math was never my strong point, but once I
was lucky enough to have a great teacher who made it possible for me to
stop thinking of math as the impossible and myself as stupid. But that was
30 years ago. I am back in college to further my nursing degree and guess
what? I need a math placement test as a transfer student with 30 years of
nursing under my belt. I look at the books and I am lost. SAT, PSAT, math
for dummies, GED, Advanced algebra, Algebra, Algebra II, Math for the lost.
NOTHING says: math for placement testing. I know I am going to fail and end
up taking remedial math at the ripe old age of 50, probably with kids
around me who just graduated high school and I am going to be the old dumb
****. I think older students should be given some slack. I don't need
calculus or trigonometry to figure out a medication dose. It's ridiculous.
I think it only serves one purpose: decrese unemployment among college
professors by prolonging our stay at school.
Jun 29, 2009 8:51 AM
Guest :
As a mathematics major who graduated college in 1978, all I can say is that
the system is completly flawed. The high school textbooks are so watered
down that concepts are not learned in their entirety. There is also too
much emphasis placed on assuring that students take calculus in senior
year. The basic Algebra-Geometry-Algebra 2-Precalculus no longer exists
and that is the real issue. Students have not gotten smarter. I see
college students who can not do basic percentage calculations in their
heads at stores, constantly. We need to go back to basics and stop folling
ourselves that adding calculus or linear algebra or statistics at the high
school level makes for smarter students...it does not.
Jul 25, 2009 10:47 AM
Guest :
I think remedial classes are just a way to make money. I have had straight
"A's" In all my math classes, but didn't pass the ACT math. How
does that balance out? A student who achieves such levels in a specific
course, fails a state test?
Maybe that student has bad testing
skills, but are amazing when it comes to class work. Colleges are
doing nothing, but making money and punishing even the best of the best as
remedial students.
Jul 26, 2009 9:23 PM
Guest :
This is exactly true! While I took Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and
Pre-Calculus in high school, I felt like the math placement exam went into
much deeper detail on the concepts than I had learned while in HS. I still
placed into college precalculus though, and I expected it to be a breeze
after having it my senior year. Well little did I know how much harder
college math was going to be, and how much more in-depth and fast-paced the
course would be. I was stumped even in the beginning when we were reviewing
basic algebra 2 material, because when we learned complex fractions my
junior year, we covered the basic ground of it; enough to do the simplest
of problems. Same thing goes for all of the trigonometry and logarithms,
etc that we had learned in HS Precal. Now that I think back, HS precal was
very watered down compared to college precal, and I didn't feel as prepared
as I should have if they had made it more challenging and geared toward
success in a college-level mathematics class. Needless to say, taking
precal a first time didn't help as much as I had hoped it would. So now I
can see why I excelled in high school math!
