 Dear reader,
Kentucky math teacher Jeffrey Coots considers learning algebra to be something like a Lego problem. “You can’t build a house if you don’t have that first foundation,” he told The Hechinger Report, in our intensive look at why pandemic-related learning loss spells trouble this fall for students and for their teachers, who struggled to keep them on track while learning online.
What happens in ninth-grade math matters greatly for students’ lives and careers, particularly if they want to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. Some schools will be confronting these issues full-on in the fall. Others became aware of how far behind students were when they returned to reopened schools this spring, and are now immersing them in intensive tutoring programs.
Also this week, our Proof Points columnist looked at the latest research on rural students, a population that struggled with sufficient math even before the pandemic. They are often not equipped to enter STEM fields because they don’t get the proper training, especially the foundation in algebra. “Algebra I is the air you breathe to be in STEM,” Nathan Levenson, the former CEO at a crane manufacturing company who became a school superintendent, told us. Reminder: we love to hear how our schools are coping with all of these issues, and we especially love to hear from our readers.
Liz Willen, Editor
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