| In today's technology-driven global economy, the low level mathematics courses that fulfill minimum high school graduation requirements are insufficient for acquiring most entry level jobs. That is from the standpoint of minimal skills for low level jobs. To qualify for good jobs, students need a university degree, but therein lies a major problem: Only about one-third of California's public high school graduates meet the academic standards for admission to California's public universities.;Using a conceptual model based on prior research, school and classroom observations, and interviews with school and district personnel, I developed a two-stage research plan for examining high- versus low mathematics achievement. The first stage consisted of multivariate analyses of five years of academic and demographic student data from a large ethnically-diverse secondary school district in California. The second stage consisted of interviews with thirty high school seniors who completed the college-track mathematics sequence, despite statistically derived expectations to the contrary. I also compared the group to a randomly selected group of low mathematics achievers.;The results of those analyses revealed three things. First, placement in eighth grade college-track mathematics was a far stronger predictor of completion of the college-track mathematics sequence than any other factors considered. Second, the placement process was more strongly related to idiosyncratic school factors than to student performance indicators. Finally, students' overall school skills contributed more to the prediction of eighth grade college-track mathematics course placement than did their mathematics skills. Based on the study's findings, I have made a number of recommendations for improving mathematics achievement at the secondary school level.;For many students, the greatest obstacle to university admission is completion of three years of regular level high school mathematics (algebra, geometry, and trigonometry). That presents a challenging question for schools and universities: What can be done to remedy mathematics underachievement? This research addresses that question through an examination of factors that could account for students' successful completion of the college-track mathematics sequence, despite statistical predictions to the contrary. Of particular interest are factors that are within school control, such as academic support programs, tutoring, and teacher and counselor behavior. |
