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Experts Give Washington's Math Standards an "F" |
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Written On: May 12, 2006 |
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While the WASL test - the Washington Assessment of Student Learning - has garnered the lion's share of attention of late, a group of mathematicians, educators and parents say one education crisis is being overlooked: Washington’s dismal math standards.
In 2005, a national study by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in Washington, D. C. gave Washington state's math standards an "F". Researchers complain that the standards are too vague, de-emphasize basic math skills, and overemphasize the use of calculators rather than requiring students to learn computations by hand.
In testimony before the state Legislature, education activist Shalimar Backman blamed Washington's "fuzzy math" standards on the state's approach to mathematics. To prove his point, Backman quoted from a state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) document titled, "Teaching and Learning Mathematics." According to Backman, the OSPI document lists some basic dysfunctional mathematical beliefs which include:
1. To always provide the correct answer to given problems;
2. To be able to recall and apply algorithmic procedures to solve given
problems; and
3. That there is always a right or wrong answer.
"The issue for most children and the issue for society is that what is changed in education today, is that we no longer see the teaching of facts and information as the primary outcome of education," Backman states. That, say critics, is the problem.
Each year, the University of Washington gives incoming freshmen math placement tests. From the mid-1980s until 2000, students' scores declined even as their grade point averages rose. According to Cliff Mass, a professor in UW's Department of Atmospheric Sciences, the official response to the declining scores was to make the assessment exam easier.
Professor Mass, who is part of a group called Washington Parents and Educators for Mathematically Correct Curriculum, says competency in math and science has steadily declined over the last 25 years in Washington. According to Mass, many college professors have been forced to "dumb down" their classes as a result. Even so, 40 to 60 percent of incoming college freshmen must take remedial math classes before they can take college level math courses. That, critics say, means that taxpayers are paying twice for the same thing.
Washington's dismal results reflect a national trend. A 2005 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education found that American students score poorly compared to their international counterparts. The study focused on students in the United States and 11 other industrial countries including Australia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and the Russian Federation. The study found that U.S. students consistently performed below average, ranking 8th or 9th out of twelve.
Elected officials and others bemoan the loss of good-paying jobs and complain about outsourcing. But critics say our nation's poor math and science education is directly linked to a growing shortage of qualified engineers for cutting edge manufacturers, aerospace companies and other high-tech firms. As a result, American companies are competing with China, India, South Korea and other rapidly advancing countries for today's engineers.
"Sixty percent of future jobs will require training that only 20 percent of the workforce possesses," said Boeing’s Rick Stephens in 2003. "Thus the concern about the future workforce is not about a labor shortage, but rather a skills shortage. This skills gap could profoundly affect our nation's competitiveness in the world economy."
Fortunately, other states have already made great strides in solving this problem.
In 1998 after years of declining math scores, California returned to the more traditional standards used in Singapore, Japan and Poland. Since then, test scores have soared in school districts that adopted the new "old" standards, including scores for low-income students and those whose first language is not English. In the meantime, math scores in districts that resisted the change have remained stagnant.
Fordham Foundation researchers say reversing failing math scores is not difficult. Rather than try to re-invent the wheel, states like Washington could immediately adopt the math standards used in top scoring states such as California, Indiana or Massachusetts. This year, Issaquah Republican state house members Glenn Anderson and Jay Rodne introduced legislation to require Washington state to adopt the math standards used in Singapore. Unfortunately, it did not pass.
As a state and as a nation, we cannot afford to outsource the math and science skills we will need to ensure our future competitiveness and national security. The criticisms, concerns and suggestions voiced by the Fordham Foundation deserve a closer look---NOW!
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