The percentage of Maryland high school students who took a college-preparatory curriculum, but still needed remedial help in math during their first year of college has risen steadily in the past eight years, according to a study published this month by the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
In the most recent group of Maryland high school seniors surveyed, the graduating class of 2004, 30 percent of students enrolledin a college prep curriculum required remedial math assistance in college ? up from 26 percent eight years ago. The new figure is the highest since the analysis was introduced in the 1994-95 academic year.
In presenting the college performance report before the Maryland Higher Education Commission board Wednesday in Annapolis, MHEC?s director of policy analysis and research, Michael Keller, said many high school students are taking three years of high school math ? considered the minimum in college prep program ? but never passing Algebra II in the process.
“They?re taking Algebra I basically twice, calling it Part I and Part II, and geometry,” Keller said. “We need principals, administrators, school officials, teachers, students and parents to focus on this issue. Many students going on to higher education today are first-generation college students and they?re not receiving the guidance they need. Their parents don?t know what courses they should be taking because they didn?t go to college.”
The report also studied the best predictors of college performance and found that for first-year college students, high school grade-point average was the best forecaster of success. The next best predictor was their verbal SAT score, then math SAT score, average grade in their corresponding math or English high school courses, followed further down the line by race and gender.
MHEC Commissioner Victor Bernson Jr., also an Anne Arundel County School Board member, said the remedial math problem couldn?t be addressed only at the high school level.
“This starts in the middle schools, which is where we begin to see students” and schools miss annual yearly progress goals, Bernson said.
Keller and Bernson both stressed the need for academic preparation at the middle school level and a rigorous course load in high school. Bernson also said there are “cultural and societal issues” that start to come into play at the middle school level.
“Students need to have an adult in the school that they can talk to and know that they care if they succeed or not,” Bernson said. “Principals and teachers need to build those relationships with students.”
