Connecting High School Math to Career and Civic Demands

Did you know that only about a third of U.S. bachelor’s graduates earn degrees in a major that requires a calculus course? This may surprise some in the education world, since high school math sequences are often oriented toward preparing students for calculus as an indicator of college readiness. 

Recent research confirms that about a quarter of bachelor’s degrees are in a major that requires one or more calculus courses, and another 10 percent need a Business Calculus course. In it, our colleague Dave Kung found a wide range of calculus enrollment patterns across the country: In Maryland, 37 percent of college graduates earn bachelor’s degrees in a major that requires a traditional calculus course, whereas in Arizona, Arkansas, and New Hampshire the proportion is closer to 15 percent. 

State-by-state analyses like this can help guide education leaders in planning their math sequences and requirements. If 35 percent of bachelor’s grads require a calculus course and just 40 percent of high school students earn bachelor’s degrees, roughly 14 percent of high school students need to take calculus at some point, ideally in high school. These data can also be the focus of future research—to understand, for example, whether the emphasis on calculus matches the workforce needs in a state or region and whether the preparation being offered by high schools aligns well with those needs.

That is precisely why Just Equations is pleased to have partnered with the Charles A. Dana Center and Education Strategy Group in developing—and now disseminating—their new resource for state-level education leaders on designing math pathways from elementary school through college. 

“The traditional approach to high school mathematics, with its narrow focus on a pathway to calculus, is increasingly misaligned with the mathematical demands of modern careers and civic life. The majority of jobs demand skills in other mathematical domains—from statistical analysis to data modeling,” notes the new publication, Charting the Course: The State of Mathematics Pathways for Student Success. “States have both the responsibility and opportunity to address this critical misalignment between mathematical preparation and higher education.” 

Charting the Course features nine key actions for states to prioritize. Many of these actions focus on policies that are central to Just Equations’ mission of reenvisioning the role of math in education equity, including: 

• Expand opportunities through multiple mathematics pathways
• Modernize mathematics for career readiness and civic engagement
• Align and accept pathways in college admissions 
• Remove math-placement barriers for high school and college students

The publication’s ninth action calls upon states to “capture and report progress” on their math redesigns through “public reporting systems that provide transparent, disaggregated data on mathematics course-taking patterns, student progression, and outcomes.” In connection with that action, Charting the Course highlights a set of metrics (reproduced below) for states to monitor via public reports: 

• Mathematics enrollment and success by mathematics course from grade 6 through 12, with demographic disaggregation and district-level reporting of each course
• Mathematics enrollment and success in advanced mathematics courses from grade 6 through 12, with district-level subgroup reporting for each course
• The percentage of high school graduates who have completed 4 credits/units and/or continuous enrollment in mathematics
• Mathematics enrollment and success in any gateway credit-bearing mathematics course taken by first-time first-year students on public postsecondary campuses, with demographic disaggregation and postsecondary campus-level reporting of each course
• The percentage of first-time first-year students who complete a STEM degree within six years

Little of this data is available today. According to Charting the Course, only 10 states provide public reports on middle and high school math coursetaking. But if the Dana Center is successful in promoting the actions and metrics through its Launch Years Initiative, states will soon have access to far more information. They will then be in a position to make better decisions as they plan students’ math-learning opportunities. 

Here is what we know so far: 

• 19 states require four years of math for high school graduation, a benchmark that is often recommended for college readiness.
• 23 states align their high school graduation requirements with college admissions requirements at public universities, a practice that supports equitable access to college. 
• 11 states have automatic enrollment policies—typically providing eighth grade access to Algebra I—a strategy that is recommended as an antidote to racialized tracking in math courses. 
• 29 states have implemented corequisite math courses in addition to or instead of prerequisite remedial courses, a strategy that removes barriers to college-level math classes. 
• 31 states have established cross-sector partnerships involving K–12, postsecondary, and often workforce bodies to help guide their math education reforms. 

Increasing the number of states adopting policies such as these is an explicit goal of this effort, and of Just Equations. We look forward to watching the progress.