The Reasoning For Quantitative Reasoning
After sharp criticism, the California State University Board of Trustees has pushed back until 2022 its vote on a proposal requiring a fourth year of quantitative reasoning for incoming high school students. Implementation would now occur in 2027.
In his justification for the plan, Timothy White, outgoing CSU Chancellor, said, “the nature of work in the future will require more quantitive reasoning. We want underserved students to be competitive in the future of work.” However, the proposal drew push back from such groups as the Campaign for College Opportunity, The Education True — West, the Los Angeles Unified School District as well as Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis.
“There was no data, and there was not a study done on how this proposal might impact our students,” said Sasha Renée Pérez, Student Engagement Manager for the Campaign for College Opportunity. To better understand how these changes would affect graduating seniors, the Campaign for College Opportunity conducted its own research by examining data from the class of 2018. “The results indicated to us what we expected,” Perez said. “[The plan] affected low-income students, black students and Latinx students the most.”
Loren Dittmar, a high school academic counselor in Simi Valley, said high schools would need time to prepare in order to add a mandatory fourth year of mathematics to their curriculum. Dittmar previously worked as a high school counselor in Georgia, where four years of math is already mandatory to get into college. “I think that once you’ve implemented the structure to make it work, it could be a good thing, because you’re raising the standard,” he said. “But without having the support to make sure students are prepared, then, well, we don’t want to lose people along the way.”
The current requirement for CSU eligibility is three years of mathematics that includes Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. Proponents of the new plan cite CSU enrollment statistics suggesting that 93 percent of admitted students have already taken a fourth year, but critics suggest that requiring a fourth year will make it even more difficult for students to obtain a university degree, particularly those in districts receiving less funding.
CSUN Mathematics Professor Katherine Stevenson was co-chair of the CSU Quantitative Reasoning Task Force. She said her team’s report was a broader examination of quantitative reasoning in the California education sphere, and included representation not just from CSU and UC campuses, but also industry and government professionals. The task force made four suggestions to the trustees, one of which was chosen.
“It’s important to point out that there were some differences in what the task force was recommending, and what ultimately the CSU proposed,” Stevenson said. “Where we differed was that we said ‘if it takes you four years to get through your existing math requirement, that’s ok with us.’ The CSU required an additional year.”
In the end, most critics agreed that the proposal was an incomplete, and, in some sense discriminatory fix to a larger problem of funds and educational support. For now, the CSU is back at the drawing board as it attempts to address issues of low graduation rates and employment opportunities for its graduates.
Moderator: Liliana Ramirez
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Reporters: Bea Barros, Emmanuel Luissi, Lilibeth Mireles, Preston Mitchell, Liliana Ramirez, and Candice Romero