Education Week - September 21, 2022 - 8

Why Elite College Admissions May Play
An Outsized Role in K-12 Math Programs
By Sarah Schwartz
In recent years, math educators and
advocates have pushed to diversify
high school course offerings, introducing
new pathways that culminate
in statistics or data analysis. But new
research suggests that one course still
reigns supreme when it comes to college
admissions: calculus.
New surveys of college counselors
working in competitive admissions
find that the vast majority-93 percent-say
calculus gives students an
" edge " in the college application process.
Almost 3 in 4 of those surveyed
say that not taking the course narrows
students' options.
The results underscore the importance
of college admissions practices-
or even perceptions thereof-in shaping
high school coursetaking. And they
shed light on the anxieties that some
parents and school system leaders feel
about the introduction of nontraditional
math pathways into high school
classrooms.
The report, a joint effort from the
math equity-focused nonprofit Just
Equations and the National Association
for College Admission Counseling,
isn't nationally representative:
About 70 percent of the first survey's
323 school-based counselor respondents
work in private high schools. A
second, similar survey was completed
by 70 independent college counselors,
whom some families hire to provide
extra support and guidance for
their children during the admissions
process.
Most of these respondents are focused
on getting students into selective
colleges, the report's authors
note, so it's likely that counselors
working with students aiming for lessselective
colleges or two-year institutions
might have a different opinion.
But even though the survey only represents
a small slice of college-going
experiences, the results have wide implications,
said Pamela Burdman, the
founder of Just Equations, and one of
the authors on the report.
" These more elite or prestigious
higher education institutions have a
disproportionate impact on the overall
admissions landscape, " she said.
The expectations these colleges
and universities set for what courses
students are expected to take can
trickle down throughout the system
as a whole, said Dave Kung, director
of policy at the University of Texas
at Austin's Charles A. Dana Center.
(Kung also served as an advisor on
the report.)
" The fact that calculus is seen as
a golden ticket to better schools is
deeply inequitable ... If you look at
U.S. high schools, only half of them
even offer calculus, " Kung said.
Those numbers are lower in schools
that serve majority Black and Latino
students, he said, meaning that preferencing
calculus-taking is to " set up
a system where your ZIP code determines
whether or not you can [be] a
math major. "
Very few universities require high
school students to have taken calculus
in policy, said Kung. But even as some
hyper-selective institutions-like Harvard
University and Stanford-have
recently stressed that calculus is not
a requirement for acceptance, many
counselors in the survey said that they
believe it is still a covert expectation
from admissions officers at these
types of schools. They advise the
students they work with to take the
course, as they believe they won't be
as competitive without it.
" Whether or not they agree with the
policies they see being important in
higher education, they feel bound by
them, " Burdman said, of high school
admissions counselors.
The movement to expand high
school math beyond calculus
For the past 30 years, calculus has
been regarded as the terminus of advanced
high school math.
In order to get to the course by senior
year, students generally need to take
their first high school math course-Algebra
1-in 8th grade, progressing then
through geometry, Algebra 2, precalculus,
and finally on to calculus.
But over the past decade, math
professional organizations and many
educators have pushed back against
this march to calculus as the default
pathway, and have begun to fashion
alternate routes for advanced high
school math. Critics of the status quo
argue that it can push kids to accelerate
before they're ready-shortchanging
their development of foundational
math skills in middle school.
The fixed trajectory can also have
the effect of trapping students into
" higher " and " lower " tracks early
on: If students don't take Algebra 1 in
middle school, it's unlikely they'll get
to calculus by the end of high school.
This tracking disproportionately disadvantages
students of color and lowincome
students.
Finally, there's the question of calculus'
intrinsic value. Does the course
actually better prepare students for
college-level work than, for example, a
class in statistics or data analysis? The
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
and the Mathematical Association
of America have both taken the
position that calculus should not be the
only gateway from high school to college
math courses.
These critiques of the traditional calculus
pathway have shaped proposed
changes to the way math is taught and
sequenced in K-12 schools-and unleashed
a torrent of criticism.
A draft math framework in California,
for example, proposes alternative
high school math pathways, and versions
of the document have suggested
that all students take Algebra I in 9th
8 | EDUCATION WEEK | September 21, 2022 | www.edweek.org
NOTE: For the first two statements, percentages indicate the proportions of each group who reported that they " agree "
or " somewhat agree with the corresponding statement. For the third statement, the percentage reflects the proportion
answering " yes " or " in some cases " when asked if they believe in the corresponding statement.
SOURCE: Just Equations and National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)
Contrasting Perceptions on Math and College Admissions
Counselors tend to think calculus provides an edge in the admission process, but fewer college
admissions officers held this view.
NOTE: Percentages indicate the proportions of each group who reported that they " agree " or " somewhat agree with the
corresponding statement.
Differing Attitudes on Statistics and College Admissions
Despite seeing statistics as useful, counselors tended to see it as less rigorous or desirable than calculus.

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Education Week - September 21, 2022

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