skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: On Track or Off Track? Identifying a Typology of Math Course-Taking Sequences in U.S. High Schools
The authors examine students’ linear progression histories in mathematics throughout high school years, using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. Although scholars have attended to this before, the authors provide a new organizing framework for thousands of heterogenous mathematics course-taking sequences. Using cluster analysis, the authors identify eight distinctive course-taking sequence typologies. Approximately 45 percent of students take a linear sequence of mathematics, whereas others stop taking mathematics altogether, repeat coursework, or regress to lower level courses. Only about 14 percent of students take the expected four-year linear sequence of Algebra 1–Geometry–Algebra II–Advanced Mathematics. Membership into different typologies is related to student characteristics and school settings (e.g., race, socioeconomic status, and high school graduation requirements). The results provide a tool for schools’ self-assessment of mathematics course-taking histories among students, creating intervention opportunities and a foundation for future research on advancing our understanding of stratification in math course-taking patterns, postsecondary access, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1660402
PAR ID:
10432615
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World
Volume:
9
ISSN:
2378-0231
Page Range / eLocation ID:
237802312311692
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; (, Education Policy Analysis Archives)
    Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, the association between high school exit exams and mathematics course-taking patterns is explored. Exit exams are linked to a decreased likelihood of students taking upward-bound mathematics during their four years of high school. Exit exams are also associated with fewer mathematics credits earned. However, exit exams are linked to increased likelihood of students completing Precalculus or higher, but have no discernible association with completing Algebra II or higher. Importantly, significant disparities exist in these associations, with underprivileged, underperforming students often experiencing limited access to advanced math courses due to exit exams.  
    more » « less
  2. (, Proceedings of the seventh annual Indiana STEM Conference. West Lafayette, IN)
    s research brief will share insights from using the curriculum, Thinking With Algebra (TWA), a National Science Foundation Project (DUE 2021414). The focus will be on the value of using this curriculum when working specifically with students who have taken Algebra I and Algebra II in high school, but were not prepared for college algebra or precalculus. This curriculum is specifically designed for STEM-track students who place below the level of college algebra when they enter college. The authors have found that TWA helps instructors honor the mathematical knowledge and ideas that students bring into the classroom. The curriculum units give instructors the freedom to choose the topics that suit their objectives. TWA also offers a variety of approaches to help students connect with mathematics in a new way. This brief will expand on these them students that the authors observed when teaching with this curriculum. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; (, Social Sciences)
    Black girls are more likely to receive in-school suspension (ISS) in comparison to their non-Black peers. However, research on the effect of in-school suspension on students’ academic achievement, specifically math achievement of Black girls, is still very limited. Mathematics is an important foundational component of science, technology, and engineering fields, which are domains in which Black girls are underrepresented. Using the nationally representative Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), this study explores the relationship between in-school suspension and the highest math course completed in a multi-level analysis of 860 Black female participants from 320 high schools. Our findings revealed that in-school suspension was associated with lower mathematics course-taking. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed. 
    more » « less
  4. ; (, Educational Administration Quarterly)
    null (Ed.)
    Purpose: English learner (EL) education policy has long directed schools to address EL students’ linguistic and academic development without furthering inequity or segregation. The recent Every Student Succeeds Act reauthorization expresses a renewed focus on evidence of equity, effectiveness, and opportunity to learn. We propose that high school course taking patterns provide evidence of program effectiveness and equity in access. Research Design: Using data from the nationally representative Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, we employ multinomial regression models to predict students’ likelihood of completing two types of high school coursework (basic graduation, college preparatory) by their linguistic status. Findings: Despite considerable linguistic, sociodemographic, and academic controls, marked disparities in high school course taking patterns remain, with EL students experiencing significantly less academic exposure. Implications for Policy and Practice: Building on McKenzie and Scheurich’s notion of an equity trap and evidence of a long-standing EL opportunity gap, we suggest that school leaders might use our findings and their own course taking patterns to prompt discussions about the causes and consequences of local EL placement processes. Such discussions have the potential to raise awareness about how educators and school leaders approach educational equity and access, key elements central to the spirit of EL education policy. 
    more » « less
  5. ; (, Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)
    When implementing lessons connecting advanced undergraduate mathematics to school mathematics, challenges arise for faculty and for the undergraduate students. The Mathematical Education of Teachers as an Application of Undergraduate Mathematics (META Math) project has created, piloted, and field-tested lessons for undergraduate mathematics and statistics courses typically part of a mathematics major that leads to secondary mathematics teacher certification. Lessons in calculus, discrete mathematics, algebra, and statistics explicitly link topics in college mathematics with high school mathematics topics prospective teachers will eventually teach. The goal of this poster presentation is to discuss our preliminary observations of the challenges faced by faculty and undergraduate students when implementing or using these lessons. We also wish to gather feedback and suggestions on the study design and potential directions for further research. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email