In Fall 2012, about 1 in 3 freshmen who entered the California State University system were forced into remedial math classes.
In other words, 17,000 new Cal State students did not possess the skill set to take college-level math.
And these struggles aren’t unique to the CSU system—freshmen are arriving at campuses all over the country not ready for the math required of them.
Schools are overwhelmed with an over-emphasis on testing, large class sizes, and broken curricula-and thus are unable to help every student. Also, research has shown that kids who struggle with math early in their academic careers tend to continue struggling throughout grade school, middle school, and into high school (and ultimately, college).
Without some sort of math help, these children rarely catch up, no matter what the school’s curriculum or philosophy is.
Math help and intervention: a positive effect on performance
Many parents may not realize the long-term effects of their children’s math struggles.
After all, a fourth-grader has plenty of years to improve, right?
Realistically, it’s not as much time as you think. Students still struggling in math come high school, will need to hurry to get up to speed before college.
Real-world cases have documented that early math intervention for students can lead to success later.
Impressively, the district’s fifth-grade scores jumped from 41.5 percent of students proficient to 62.6 percent in just one year. The future will tell if the Grand Haven students continue this success through college, but at least they have a jump on many of their peers nationwide.
