Almost 75% of Aspiring Teachers Fail Math Test in Licensing Exam

I have to admit, math was never my strong subject. I waited to take my required math and statistics classes until the VERY END of my college career, before receiving my bachelor's degree in psychology. I let the bad high school math memories deter me and maybe secretly thought they would let me sneak by without the math credits in college. Luckily, our children seemed to have received Steve's "math genes" and don't follow in their mom's footsteps in the numbers department. Brynn, who is a freshman in high school this year, has received A's each quarter in her honors class; and Shea, who is currently in 6th grade, tested at a 10th grade math level at the beginning of the year and has received specially accelerated lessons since then.

Today, www.Boston.com reported that "nearly three-quarters of the aspiring elementary school teachers who took the Massachusetts state's licensing exam this year failed the new math section." Apparently, the high failure rate is being blamed on a weak background in math preparedness for elementary and special education teachers; which in turn, of course, results in poor achievement for the students that they teach.

Elementary teachers in Massachusetts had previously been allowed to receive a state license without answering even one math question on the general curriculum exam, as math was just one of many subjects all grouped together (history, language arts, social science, and child development) and their pass/fail was based on an overall score. Now, however, math is a separate part of the test and unfortunately, only 27% of prospective teachers who took this new test section passed.

In the Boston.com article, Mitchell Chester, the state's commissioner of elementary and secondary education said, "While we have a lot to be proud of in Massachusetts about student math achievement, not all our students are receiving a strong math education, particularly in elementary school grades and particularly among students with disabilities...this test is designed to ensure our workforce, our teachers, have a strong understanding of math if they are going to teach math."

This chart from '07 shows the math skills of students in eleven U.S. cities as compared to their peers in other countries.  Since we live in California, the Los Angeles results shown were particularly troubling, with only 14% of students considered "proficient" in math.  Eek!