Although math scores among students nationwide are low, many experts claim addressing the way the subject is taught through legislation is not the answer.
With recent U.S. students performing worse than ever in mathematics on various exams, such as those administered by the Program for International Student Assessment and American College Testing, many experts are saying action must be taken. Still, few agree on what should be done.
“There are places where this science of reading has been legislated, right? But it’s a frightening thing to think that the same thing could happen for mathematics because there isn’t … one clean answer here,” said Ted Coe, a mathematics expert with the Northwest Evaluation Association, according to The Hill.
U.S. students’ poor reading skills garnered considerable attention from lawmakers and other stakeholders at various levels both before and after the learning loss that unfolded during the COVID-19 lockdowns. As a result, reading curricula have been overhauled in many school systems across the nation.
For instance, the Texas Legislature created reading academies run by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in 2019 to improve student literacy and bolster at-grade-level academic performance. This mandated the annual participation of educators teaching grades K-3 in summer and in-semester training to learn about some of the more recent and effective pedagogical strategies for teaching kids how to read.
At Dallas ISD, which has been struggling for years with its student achievement outcomes, including reading, teachers have spoken highly about the reading academies, as previously covered by The Dallas Express.
“Going back to when I started teaching, it was just [the students] learn to read, now the research is saying that’s not so, there’s a process to learning to read,” explained Dallas ISD teacher Stacy Bailey-Lard, according to NBC 5 DFW.
“I would say the majority of those at-risk readers showed tremendous growth,” Bailey-Lard added.
Nevertheless, the latest available TEA accountability report for the district showed that only 43% of students scored at grade level in reading on their STAAR exams during the 2021-2022 school year. The scores for math were even worse, with only 39% of students scoring at grade level.
The unequal attention given to reading compared to mathematics may come down to several things, including the value attributed to each subject.
“I think that the science of reading has captured the imagination of the public in part because parents and adults understand the value of literacy to their own well-being as citizens and employees,” suggested Michelle Stie, vice president of program design and innovation at the National Math and Science Initiative, according to The Hill. “And as parents, they’re able to help their students with reading.”
Mathematics may be getting the short end of the stick, but some experts argue this needs to change.
“A lot of effort and money has been put into conceptualizing literacy as extremely important, extremely lacking amongst our kids, and worth investing in, and it hasn’t been the same case for mathematics. But there is work being done to alleviate that, [and] put math up on that same level of importance. It hasn’t happened yet, but it is in motion,” said Kirby Schoephoerster, program manager for the National Math Foundation, per The Hill.
Some have encouraged setting up something akin to Texas’ reading academies, which would help educators become more comfortable with mathematics themselves.
“So really thinking about how do we build the confidence, the expertise of elementary teachers, middle school teachers in math, so that math is presented in their classrooms confidently, joyfully and really focusing in on what makes math fun and relevant for their students is part of the puzzle here,” Stie said.
Research is being done to develop new and better ways to impart mathematics to school-aged children. For instance, a team of researchers at Southern Methodist University recently tested out a new app called MathFinder on Dallas ISD students at the Dallas Zoo. The app is being developed through a five-year $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. It gamifies mathematics to help engage learners and impart real-life applications of math skills.