Editor’s note: This story led off this week’s Future of Learning newsletter, which is delivered free to subscribers’ inboxes every other Wednesday with trends and top stories about education innovation. Subscribe to our newsletter today!
In 2013, I started reporting on the growing interest among young people in learning data science. Algebra II, and other math classes at higher levels are taught in an outdated way and should be modernized. Before the pandemic began, experts were concerned about declining math scores. Since then, scores have continued to decline.
There’s no easy answer – math experts, STEM professors, high school educators, parents, advocates and even students have vastly different opinions Students who want to be successful in college and career should have a solid understanding of math and the courses they need.
California has made this very clear. As I wrote in my latest story, co-published with The Washington Post, the state’s public higher education system has gone back and forth on whether data science (an interdisciplinary field that combines computer programming, math and statistics) and other statistics-based courses fit into existing math pathways and can serve as an…
