Adelman Report

Importance of Good Mathematics Education in High School

A recent report entitled Answers in the Tool Box: Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and Bachelors Degree Attainment, written by senior research analyst Clifford Adelman of the U. S. Department of Education, shows the importance of a rigorous mathematics education in high school. The report is based on a study of academic and socioeconomic factors, such as high school curriculum intensity and quality, class rank, grade point average, scores on standardized tests, family income, parents education, and so forth, and how they relate to the eventual attainment of a bachelors degree. Results of the study show that by far the most significant such factor is curriculum intensity and quality. Within this category, the highest level of mathematics studied has the very strongest relationship to the eventual attainment of a bachelors degree. Specifically, Adelman concludes that

Of all pre-college curricula, the highest level of mathematics one studies in secondary school has the strongest continuing influence on bachelors degree completion. Finishing a course beyond the level of Algebra 2 (for example, trigonometry or pre-calculus) more than doubles the odds that a student who enters postsecondary education will complete a bachelors degree.

Sponsored by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, Bradford L. Cowgill Interim President Created by House Bill 178 of the 2000 Kentucky General Assembly