California Students Declining Math Skills

Math is the sum of its parts, and it adds on itself.

What does that mean? It means that multiplication is just repeated addition. And that mastering the times tables will help students simplify fractions or solve algebraic equations.

For students, it means that they need to master the basics before moving on to more complex problems. In California, unfortunately, that’s not happening. Instead, more students fall behind in math every year they stay in school.

Consider this year’s state test results. Among third graders, just 46% of California students met the state’s expectations (proficient or advanced) in math. That’s bad, but it gets worse. Among fourth graders, the percentage fell to 42%. Those percentages continued to decline until just 31% of 11th graders met the state’s expectation in math.

It’s not that kids are not making any progress or literally getting dumber as they get older — they are improving, but they’re just not keeping up with what the state defines as “proficient” at each grade level. As a result, the older they get, the more kids fall off track.

Notably, this pattern is unique to math. Proficiency rates actually increase across the grades in English Language Arts.

California is not the only state with this problem. In fact, almost every state suffers from a declining pattern of math proficiency rates like this. Still, that’s cold comfort to students in California. And it is widespread across the state. Among the 353 districts that had scores in both third and 11th grade, 328 had lower proficiency rates in high school than among elementary students. Among the biggest districts, proficiency rates in third versus 11th grade fell from 48% to 26% in Los Angeles, from 37% to 17% in Fresno, and from 55% to 36% in San Diego. You can see the district-level results for yourself here.

So how can California schools address these early math gaps?

The state has already taken an important step by updating its list of approved math curricula. That’s an important foundation, and districts will now need to make smart choices, but it will also be critical for the state to provide ongoing implementation support for educators on the ground.

At the local level, school and district leaders should compare their investments in reading versus those in math. As PowerMyLearning’s Arun Ramanathan has pointed out, schools have a variety of supports in place to help teachers with reading, but they often lack the equivalent investments in early screening tools, professional development, or teacher coaches in math.

Time is another key variable. In countries with the highest math scores, students receive an average of 60 minutes per day of math instruction (or 300 per week). In California, large districts like Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Diego leave that up to individual teachers and don’t set a requirement for the amount of time devoted to math.

At the classroom level, teachers should make sure students are actually mastering the skills they’re trying to teach. For example, a recent study found that low-stakes homework assignments can help teachers identify and address gaps before they widen, rather than waiting until the end of the year when a child fails the state test.

For their part, parents can make sure their child is coming to school on time with their homework completed. They can also give their kids an at-home “math checkup” to make sure their child is able to apply what they’re learning in school.

Beyond basic skills, California needs a more coherent approach to algebra placement decisions. In the past, it has whipsawed between an “algebra for all” push in the late 1990s to some districts opting for an “algebra for none” policy in recent years. But neither of these extremes got it right. Students who demonstrate they are ready for algebra based on their seventh grade test scores thrive when given the opportunity, but it can be actively harmful to push students ahead when they’re not ready. The answer for California, then, is to follow the lead of states like North Carolina, Texas and Virginia and let data drive these high-stakes placement decisions through an automatic enrollment policy.

Ultimately, state and local policymakers need to understand that California’s math gap is tied to the basic skills of California’s lowest-performing students. Over the last decade, California’s highest-performing students have gained ground while its lowest performers have fallen further behind. In fact, California’s math achievement gap has grown faster than all but seven states.

There are solutions to these problems, but California policymakers must act with a sense of urgency.

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Chad Aldeman is an adviser to the Collaborative for Student Success, a national nonprofit focused on elevating strong K-12 practices and policies, and writes for its EduProgress.org and WeAreAllSolvers.org platforms.

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