Why are Americans' math skills declining?

“Here's the bottom line: In an extremely difficult time for education, the United States rose in the world rankings in reading, math and science (the three categories PISA measures), while, unfortunately, many other countries experienced declines,” he said. the Secretary of Education. Miguel Cardona said in a prepared statement.

But that hid a reality: that mathematical abilities have fallen since the last time the PISA test was administered. While reading and science scores remained about the same in the US as in 2018, Math scores fell.

In that sense, the early reactions were similar to the struggle among American states over relative standings that occurred after last year's national testing revealed a historic drop in the math scores of fourth- and eighth-graders in the states. USA

That leaves the question: What lessons are being drawn from the test results so far?

Fighting uphill

The United States has some of the most skilled mathematics teachers, but they are fighting uphill battles, says Cody Patterson, assistant professor of mathematics at Texas State University.

Unlike some of the countries at the top of the PISA list, the United States does not have a national mathematics curriculum, Patterson says. Its approach is fragmented and locally controlled. While consistent with American culture, which wants to preserve the autonomy of local educators, that can make collaboration between school systems difficult, she says. From her perspective, that means the nation's system is leaving improvements and ideas on the table.

But American schools also have a teacher retention problem right now. School surveys suggest that almost half feel understaffedand The turnover rate for American teachers has increased.and some observers noted that effective teachers are especially likely to leave the profession.

Teaching K-12 math requires tremendous skill, Patterson says. It takes years to build that, and a lot of it has to happen at work, she adds.

Now, schools rely on new teachers, or increasingly on teachers with alternative or emergency credentials. In Texas, where Patterson is an assistant professor, the number of teachers hired without any certification or permission from the state was 28.8 percent last year. according to the Texas Education Agency. Patterson adds that math and science are especially prone to teacher shortages, whether due to attrition, hiring difficulties, or simply increasing demand.

“It's devastating, because you're losing a lot of accumulated experience that could benefit the kids who are in those classrooms,” Patterson says.

But there are other complicated problems.

Be more critical

In mathematics, PISA emphasizes critical thinking and real-world problem solving.

After reviewing the materials published by PISA, Patterson noticed that many of the questions focused on real-world contexts and that the problems were often wordy. Students have to examine extensive narratives and descriptions to understand what is being asked in a question.

“I think, 'Gosh, no wonder we're not doing well in America,'” Patterson says.

According to Patterson, the biggest obstacle to teachers feeling qualified to teach practical problem solving is the metrics by which they are judged. In American teaching, she notes, there is a greater emphasis on problems that are purely computational and require more easily measured skills. It involves performing procedures that are less cognitively demanding and generally have only one valid approach, or at least one that students are familiar with, she says.

Other analysts agree that an excessive focus on how to perform mathematical procedures could have led to inadequate attention to building students' conceptual understanding, in a way that could have impacted PISA scores.

PISA is designed to be a test of knowledge application, says Ross Wiener, executive director of the Education and Society Program at the Aspen Institute. This contrasts with approaches that emphasize rote memorization and regurgitation of information. But conceptual understanding is an important aspect of children learning to see themselves as interested in mathematics and therefore motivated to engage more deeply with it, he says. “If we are not preparing young people to apply knowledge in their lives, in the real world, then I think we need to review our objectives,” adds Wiener.

From Wiener's perspective, when students seem more interested than ever in learning the relevance of lessons to their lives, raising math achievement in the country could mean overcoming a culture where math is seen as a chore.

“The norm in American education has been that you just have to eat your broccoli. This may not be fun, but you will need it to take more advanced courses and go to college,” says Wiener. She argues that the country really needs to figure out how to teach math in ways that directly engage students, build motivation, and are explicit about the relevance and meaning of having math in your toolbox.

Meanwhile, some educators are looking for immediate lessons.

Utah's Henderson attributes his state's success in part to the fact that Utah is one of the only states that requires an integrated high school math curriculum. Every school that receives state funds has to teach integrated standards through high school, he says.

Included in this curriculum is an emphasis on “essential skills“It's like a real-world application of mathematics,” he says. It's something state leaders and educators heard from industry leaders, parents and students want.

But ultimately, what works is difficult to parse.

“Everyone wants to know what the secret sauce is. And it's this giant system that has a lot of variables,” Henderson says, adding that he usually tells people that it was the resilience of students, teachers, administrators and parents that helped Utah's math scores hold up. solid during the pandemic.