Regents to ask university to raise math standards

The Board of Regents is expected to require high school students applying to the university to take a fourth year of high school math as a way to clamp down on a growing number of students taking remedial classes.

Many members of the regents’ education policy committee argued last week the change would decrease the number of students enrolled in remedial courses. The number of students enrolled in these classes at this university — and nationally — has been increasing, costing thousands of dollars. While some professors feel this measure would do little to make students more prepared for college-level math, university system officials maintain  the change would greatly affect student success and university spending.

“If students have a gap in the time they’ve taken their final math course and then start college, they are much more likely to require some developmental work,” said Teri Hollander, the associate vice chancellor for academic affairs for the university system. “We want to close that gap.”

Some incoming students don’t take math courses their senior year of high school and struggle with introductory college math tests or with placement exams taken the summer before their freshman year of college.

Universities are paying to fund remedial classes they wouldn’t have to offer if students’ performances on the math placement exam improved, university system officials said.

“The costs are enormous,” University System Chancellor Brit Kirwan said at last Wednesday’s meeting. “Campuses are spending a fortune offering remedial classes they don’t need to offer.”

Despite the financial benefits, some professors feel this change would not adequately address the growing problem with student preparedness for math.

Math professor Jerome Dancis feels the resolution is “too little, too late.” Dancis is one of 50 professors who recently signed a petition to upgrade the state’s mathematics standards.
“It would be a distraction from doing something useful,” Dancis wrote in an email. “Having students take a fourth year of math won’t solve anything.”

The petition recommends the state review the mathematics standards and website content by a panel that represents the opinions of mainstream university mathematicians. It also advises the state align the state’s Content Standards with the most rigorous international and state content standards available, Dancis said.

A committee — compromised of faculty, admissions and enrollment officers and representatives from the Maryland State Department of Education — met last summer to review the current policies for undergraduate admission into university system institutions. The only recommended change was to add a fourth year of mathematics in non-trivial algebra.

“Students need to have a math course at or above the level of algebra II their senior year that contains nontrivial concepts,” Hollander said. “It’s important that students maintain that level of math knowledge so when they go into those college math courses, they are fully prepared.”

The current policy requires students to take three years of math with three designated courses — Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II. If the change is made, applicants will be required to take a math class their senior year of high school, regardless of whether the three designated courses were already completed.

“I’m very supportive of this,” Kirwan said at the meeting last week. “Data is overwhelming that students who drop math their senior year come to these schools, and they don’t do well.”

This university has unique policies that allow students who do poorly on the Math Placement Exam to move onto a credited course if competency is demonstrated after five weeks. For other system institutions that don’t have this policy, a student who places into a remedial math class is required to stay there for the entire semester, Hollander said.

Officials in the Office of Academic Affairs expect the policy change to be approved at the upcoming Board of Regents meeting.

“If the policy is approved in December, we will immediately begin working with the Board of Education to identify appropriate courses for high school seniors to take,” Hollander said.
If the board approves the change, remedial classes would still be offered for those who need or want them.

“We recognize that not everyone comes to us straight out of high school,” Hollander said. “Those folks will not go away, but we’re hopeful [the policy change] will certainly reduce the number of students who need to take them.”

The policy would go into effect for students who are entering the ninth grade in 2011.

redding@umdbk.com