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Pumping Math
Ohanian comment: Education as "a bully pulpit" and a state education commissioner who sees teaching as pumping more math into students' heads.
An unprecedented 59,000 11th-graders took the state's math test last spring -- and 79 percent of them passed. Nearly 63,000 10th-graders took the reading test and 81 percent passed. Both sets of numbers are important because the tests, and how many kids take them, now count toward a high school's success under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
But the real headline for state education officials Thursday was this: High school students who take more math do better on the math portion of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments. The point is so obvious, state officials say, that beginning with the Class of 2008, three years of high school math will be required.
The days of high-schoolers having the freedom to choose, say, advanced phy ed over that geometry course will soon be over.
State Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke said Thursday that the data prove Minnesota is making the right move.
Ninety-six percent of 11th-graders who had taken the most math -- defined as including pre-calculus, statistics and other advanced courses -- passed the math test; only 37 percent of students who had taken the least math passed the test. And, Yecke said, nearly 5,000 students who took the test had taken no math at all -- a disproportionate number of whom are black and American Indian.
"I am encouraging all parents, but especially parents of minority students, to join me in urging their children to sign up for more math classes," Yecke said. "This will help the achievement of all students, but is especially important as a tangible way to close the achievement gap."
Yecke said she is confident that the new graduation requirements -- signed into law when Gov. Tim Pawlenty retired the Profile of Learning this spring -- will pump more math into high school students' heads. But for many students now in high school, taking more math remains an option. While most students fall in the middle of the range of high school math classes taken, officials note the need for improvement.
One-third of the 11th-graders who took the test last spring have chosen to take little or no math. Eight percent had no recorded exposure to math at all. Twenty-three percent were defined as having "little exposure" to math.
State officials used a complex set of criteria that takes into account a variety of coursework to come up with definitions of "little," "some" and "more" exposure to math. For example, a student with little exposure may have completed only algebra, or may have completed algebra and still be working on geometry. A student with "more" math exposure, for example, could have completed several levels of algebra and geometry and now is working on calculus.
Math evangelists
Education officials used their bully pulpit to try to convince students that it's better to choose math. Yecke said Thursday that the amount of math a student takes is a better predictor of college success than grade-point average. She also singled out 17 Minnesota schools as "exceptional" in the number of their students who take additional math classes and the achievement of those students.
State officials said the 17 schools showed the best combination of achievement and heavy math participation. But of the 17 schools cited, just three posted passing percentages that ranked among the top 15 in the state. Six were in the top 30. The overall passing rates of a couple of schools cited didn't even crack the top 150 in overall passing rates.
Bill Walsh, spokesman for the state Education Department, said the schools were chosen for their combination of passing rates and high math participation. All of the 17 schools had at least 20 students taking the highest amount of math.
Districts praised
Education officials praised the work of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan and Dassel-Cokato school districts in setting demanding course requirements and encouraging teacher creativity.
In Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, "textbooks are not the curriculum -- they're a tool," said interim Superintendent John Currie.
In Dassel-Cokato, high school students already are required to take three math courses -- a move state education officials say other districts are considering before the state guidelines take effect. Support within the community is strong, said Carlynn Lundeen, a high-school math teacher. Parental interest was the key to development of an Advanced Placement course in statistics that Lundeen began teaching two years ago.
She and a colleague, Sara Nelson, traveled to Chicago recently for a conference on integrated math. They attended Thursday's news conference, along with colleagues Gerry Peikert and Jon Ring. The four joked easily; they spoke of the challenge of creating courses for hard-to-reach kids and displayed the enthusiasm they say is essential to selling math to kids.
'Catching up'
Mark Davison, director of the University of Minnesota's Office of Educational Accountability, said Minnesota is coming late to such math evangelism.
In the 1980s, he said, the state moved away from course requirements and instead adopted a system of standards based on students proving what they knew and showing what they were able to do. Meanwhile, he said, many other states moved to requiring at least three years of high school math in addition to demonstrable standards.
Now, he said, Minnesota educators are getting on the same wavelength.
"On that track, we're kind of catching up," he said.
Results of the reading and math tests for all schools statewide are available online at the Minnesota Department of Education Web site: http://education.state.mn.us
— James Walsh and Anthony Lonetree
Math, reading classes add up for students, state officials say
Star Tribune
http://www2.startribune.com/stories/1592/3993223.html
July 18, 2003
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