Inside Higher Ed featured Just Equations’ report, A Complex Equation: Confronting Math Obstacles on the Transfer Path, highlighting how math requirements create obstacles for community college students seeking to transfer into STEM majors. The piece references key findings about the role of math anxiety, inconsistent policies, and course scheduling challenges in limiting transfer success. It also notes the report’s recommendations for clearer statewide goals and more student-centered approaches to math education.
Prior research shows that a majority of community college students hope to earn a bachelor’s degree, but among those who transfer, only a fraction complete a four-year degree within six years. One of the factors that can prevent a student from successfully making the jump from a two-year to four-year institution is math credit requirements.
A May report from Just Equations analyzed California college students and transfer pathway success, with a focus on those looking to enter STEM fields or other calculus-required majors. Researchers identified three key obstacles that hold students back: math anxiety, complicated transfer policies and course scheduling conflicts.
“It is one thing for coursework to be challenging,” the report authors wrote. “Academic challenge can ensure that students are proficient in their fields and prepared for future success. It is quite another for the process itself to be the obstacle course that so many students describe.”
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