There are lots of exciting (terrifying?) changes going on in the world of high school mathematics. I have written about some of them here.
- Mathematics pathways that meet the needs of the 21st century student
- A-G completion requirements
- High school courses that prepare students for community college (AB 1705)
I encourage you to read this new article from the ComMuniCator, the quarterly journal of the California Mathematics Council. In it Just Equations founder and executive director Pamela Burdman explores the updates and implications of changes to high school mathematics requirements from the University of California, particularly for Algebra II and the future of data science and statistics courses.
It is important that we use this article as a conversation starter in the high schools because Merced County has only 30% of its high school graduates having met the UC/CSU requirements. For students planning on attending a community college, AB 1705 requires community colleges to offer no less than Calculus to students with a STEM-related academic goal.
Our high schools have the challenging task of creating course offerings and course pathways that nudge students into taking at least 3 years of mathematics.
Clearly not ALL students in Merced County will want to complete post-high school academic work, but it should be our goal to have as many graduate students as possible meeting the UC/CSU requirements. As adults, we need to equip teachers and academic counselors to preserve EVERY post-high school option so students can choose from the full buffet of options what they will do after high school: college, career, or something else.
My dream for Merced County is that we figure out how to bump up our countywide 30% rate to 50%. In doing so, we maximize the number of students who graduate will a full buffet of options for what they might do after high school.
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