By Robert C. Embry Jr.|May 29, 2008
While Maryland's Education Department is quick to tout the state's latest educational achievements, we're not so likely to hear about our failings. Here is a little secret: Maryland's math achievement is flagging. Maryland is one of the richest states - it has the highest median household income, according to a 2006 Census Bureau report. How come we're not at the top of the pack in math?
For the second consecutive year, Maryland's average math SAT score dropped significantly in 2007; it now stands 13 points below the national average. Furthermore, an ever-increasing percentage of Maryland's high school graduates require math remediation when they reach college, now more than four in 10 graduates (the Maryland Higher Education Commission reports an increase from 34 percent in 2001 to 41 percent in 2005).
Of immediate concern is that more than a third of all Maryland high school students (the rate nearly doubles for African-American students) have failed the state's High School Assessment test in Algebra I. In just 12 months, those students may be denied high school graduation.
Is the test too tough? It shouldn't be. A group of university mathematicians estimated that only a third of the content on this "algebra" test is true algebra; the remainder is material that should have been mastered in middle school.
What is at the source of this problem? If distinguished Michigan State mathematics professor William Schmidt is to be believed, "Student performance is directly related to the nature of the curricular expectations." So while there are several suspects - including the quality of instruction - Maryland's math standards must be considered a prime suspect.
Earning only a C from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation's "The State of State Math Standards" report in 2005, Maryland's standards, while far from the worst, are not among the best in the U.S. (they were rated 19th), much less world-class. Strengthening these standards may be one of the most straightforward and effective remedies for our state's math dilemma.
According to an international test of mathematics achievements known as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), there are three critical components of math expectations: focus, rigor and coherence. Other countries trounce our students in math (only 7 percent of our eighth-graders score at an "advanced" level, compared with 44 percent in top-performing Singapore). Accordingly, this study deserves our attention.
