Doing the Math - JHU Mathematics - Johns Hopkins University

Recommendations
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The primary purpose of this report is to review the alignment of Maryland high
school mathematics mandates with the expectations of Maryland colleges, particularly
community colleges, with a focus on graduates of Baltimore City Public Schools
(BCPSS) who go on to college at Baltimore City Community College (BCCC). This
report finds that the state-mandated curriculum for mathematics does not
adequately cover the material that colleges expect from incoming students. This is
illustrated by the fact that in 2008, about 98 percent of BCCC’s incoming students
from BCPSS were determined by BCCC to require remedial mathematics courses.
Many students’ first experience with mathematics at BCCC is with an Accuplacer math
test, used for determining the placement of students in their first mathematics
course. Students are given the Accuplacer Elementary Algebra Math Test first. If they
do well, they also take the Accuplacer College Level Math Test, and if they do not do
well, they are given the Accuplacer Arithmetic Test. The following chart summarizes
the placement of incoming students at BCCC by Accuplacer results.
This chart illustrates that approximately 88 percent of 2007 BCPSS graduates placed
into two or more remedial math courses. Nearly nine in 10 city students failed to
perform well on the Accuplacer Elementary Algebra Test, which is essentially a
traditional algebra I test.
The following recommendations are made for the purpose of assuring that Maryland
public high school mathematics requirements successfully prepare students for postsecondary
institutions.
Doing the Math 27