鈥楢 huge issue鈥�: US colleges work to shore up student math skills
| FAIRFAX, Va.
Diego Fonseca looked at the computer and took a breath. It was his final attempt at the math placement test for his first year of college. His first three tries put him in pre-calculus, a blow for a student who aced honors physics and computer science in high school.
Functions and trigonometry came easily, but聽. He struggled to understand algebra, a subject he studied only during a year of remote learning in high school.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have a hands-on, in-person class, and the information wasn鈥檛 really there,鈥� says Mr. Fonseca, 19, of Ashburn, Virginia, a computer science major who hoped to get into calculus. 鈥淚 really struggled when it came to higher-level algebra because I just didn鈥檛 know anything.鈥�
He is among 100 students who opted to spend a week of summer break at George Mason University brushing up on math lessons that didn鈥檛 stick during pandemic schooling. The northern Virginia school started Math Boot Camp because of alarming numbers of students arriving with gaps in their math skills.
Colleges across the United States are grappling with the same problem as聽 from the pandemic follow students to campus. At many universities, engineering and biology majors are struggling to grasp fractions and exponents. More students are being placed into pre-college math, starting a semester or more behind for their majors, even if they get credit for the lower-level classes.聽
Colleges largely blame the disruptions of the pandemic, which had an outsize impact on math. Reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, plummeted, but聽, by margins not seen in decades of testing. Other studies find that recovery has been slow.
At George Mason, fewer students are getting into calculus 鈥� the first college-level course for some majors 鈥� and more are failing. Students who fall behind often disengage, disappearing from class.聽
鈥淭his is a huge issue,鈥� says Maria Emelianenko, chair of George Mason鈥檚 math department. 鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about college-level pre-calculus and calculus classes, and students cannot even add one-half and one-third.鈥�
For Jessica Babcock, a Temple University math professor, the magnitude of the problem hit home last year as she graded quizzes in her intermediate algebra class, the lowest option for STEM majors. The quiz, a softball at the start of the fall semester, asked students to subtract eight from negative six.
鈥淚 graded a whole bunch of papers in a row. No two papers had the same answer, and none of them were correct,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t was a striking moment of, like, wow 鈥� this is significant and deep.鈥�
Before the pandemic, about 800 students per semester were placed into that class, the equivalent of ninth grade math. By 2021, it swelled to nearly 1,400.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just that they鈥檙e unprepared, they鈥檙e almost damaged,鈥� says Brian Rider, Temple鈥檚 math chair. 鈥淚 hate to use that term, but they鈥檙e so behind.鈥�
Researchers say math learning suffered for various reasons. An intensely hands-on subject, math was hard to translate to聽. When students fell behind in areas like algebra, gaps could go unnoticed for a year or more as they moved to subjects such as geometry or trigonometry. And at home, parents are generally more comfortable聽 than math.
As with other learning setbacks,聽 among Black, Latino, low-income and other vulnerable students, says Katharine Strunk, who led a study on learning delays in Michigan and is now dean of the graduate school of education at the University of Pennsylvania.
鈥淭hose are the students who were most impacted by the pandemic, and they鈥檙e the ones who are going to suffer the longer-term consequences,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not going to have the same access.鈥�
Colleges say there鈥檚 no quick fix. Many are trying to identify gaps sooner, adopting placement tests that delve deeper into math skills. Some are聽 like George Mason鈥檚, which helped participants increase placement test scores by 59% on average.
In lieu of traditional remedial classes, which some research finds ineffective, more schools are offering 鈥渃orequisite鈥� classes that help students shore up on the basics while also taking higher courses like calculus.聽
Penn State tackled the problem by expanding peer tutoring. Professors report that students who participate have scored 20% higher on exams, says Tracy Langkilde, dean of Penn State鈥檚 College of Science.
What鈥檚 becoming a persistent problem at some colleges has been a blip for others. At Iowa State University, known for its engineering program, students entering in 2020 were far more likely to be placed in lower-level math classes, and grades fell. That group of students has had continued trouble, but numbers improved for the following year鈥檚 class, says Eric Weber, math department chair.
At Temple, there鈥檚 been no rebound. Professors tried small changes: expanded office hours, a new tutoring center, pared-down lessons focused on the essentials.
But students didn鈥檛 come for help, and they kept getting D鈥檚 and F鈥檚. This year, Professor Babcock is redesigning the algebra course. Instead of a traditional lecture, it鈥檒l focus on active learning, an approach that demands more participation and expands students鈥� role in the learning process. Class will be more of a group discussion, with lots of problems worked in-class.
鈥淲e really want students to feel like they鈥檙e part of their learning,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 change their preparation coming in, but we can work to meet their needs in the best way possible.鈥�
George Mason also is emphasizing active learning. Its new placement test helps students find gaps and fill them in before taking it again, with up to four attempts. During the school year, students struggling in math can switch to slower-paced versions that take two terms instead of one.
At math camp, Mr. Fonseca felt he was making up ground. He studied hard, even doing practice problems on the train ride to camp. But when he got to the placement test鈥檚 algebra portion, he made the same mistakes. His final score again placed him in pre-calculus.
The setback would have meant spending at least one extra semester catching up on math at George Mason. In the end, he decided to start at Northern Virginia Community College. After two years, he plans to transfer to one of Virginia鈥檚 public four-year universities.
A couple weeks after camp, Mr. Fonseca again found himself taking a placement test, this time for the community college.聽
鈥淚 managed to use the knowledge of the boot camp, and I got into calculus,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have any expectation I鈥檇 do that.鈥�
The Education Reporting Collaborative, a coalition of eight newsrooms, is documenting the math crisis facing schools and highlighting progress. Members of the Collaborative are AL.com, The Associated Press, 海角大神, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, Idaho Education News, The Post and Courier in South Carolina, and The Seattle Times.聽
The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
