New research that tracked high school juniors in Los Angeles Unified found that those who took math as seniors — from algebra to advanced calculus — were better positioned to enroll and stay in college than those who didn’t.
The study, “Twelfth Grade Math and College Access“, released in January by UCLA’s Los Angeles Education Research Institute, reinforces similar findings by the California State University and national research. It offers further evidence that most students, not just those interested in STEM majors, could benefit from an extra year of math and that that message should be reinforced among students who have been less inclined to take it, such as those who would be the first in their family to attend college.
LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he plans to act on the findings. “We are now further armed with information that validates and supports the investments and additional offerings of mathematics in the senior year,” he said, adding that he plans to pass on the results not only to high school principals, math teachers and counselors, but also to parents, who need to know about the advantages of a fourth year of math.
The research followed 45,400 students — two cohorts of juniors before the pandemic — through high school graduation and then two years beyond. Even though those who took math as seniors experienced a slight drop in their overall grade point average, from 3 to 6 hundredths of a point, they were significantly more likely than their peers who skipped math to enroll in a four-year college and to re-enroll for a second year.
This was especially true for those juniors who had a D in a prior math course and needed a higher grade to be eligible for admission to UC and CSU. While most of those students…
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