U.S. colleges are searching for solutions as they see alarming numbers of students arrive with gaps in their math skills.

Colleges across the country are grappling with the same problem as academic setbacks from the pandemic follow students to campus. At many universities, engineering and biology majors are struggling to grasp fractions and exponents. More students are being placed into pre-college math, starting a semester or more behind for their majors, even if they get credit for the lower-level classes.

Colleges largely blame the disruptions of the pandemic, which had an outsize impact on math. Reading scores on the national test known as NAEP plummeted, but math scores fell further, by margins not seen in decades of testing. Other studies find that recovery has been slow.

  • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
    214·
    1 year ago

    Or maybe the scientists and doctors that said shutting down schools was terrible for development, were actually on to something.

    • eskimofry@lemmy.one
      51·
      1 year ago

      That doesn’t track. Only thing school did was make us spend less time sleeping. Pandemic shutdown was actually a blessing for many overworked people.

      • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
        22·
        1 year ago

        And it was awful for students who basically weren’t taught for a year. We are now seeing the results of those policies in lower test scores and competency in basically every subject. This was entirely predicted by people who care about child development.

        • dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world
          32·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, let’s have more dead people. That would be better than kids having a worse schooling experience for a year. Absolutely.