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April 16, 2008

Math-Education Guru Describes Challenges and Solutions for Community Colleges

Arlington, Va. — Community colleges need to do a much better job of explaining to students how the course sequences in mathematics and science fit together and lead to degrees and careers, said P. Uri Treisman, a nationally recognized, prize-winning advocate for change in education, at the National Science Foundation here.

Mr. Treisman offered a blitz of advice and encouragement during his keynote talk at an annual NSF event highlighting education by community colleges. Mr. Treisman is a professor of mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin, and he is known for his scholarly work in identifying factors that help minority students succeed in math courses. (He started his own academic career at a two-year institution, Los Angeles City College, where he was working as a campus gardener and studying landscape design when he overheard a mathematics lecture and became intrigued.)

He has visited many community colleges with NSF-financed projects to improve teaching. Two-year colleges play an important role in educating future scientists and engineers. More than half of minority students who earn bachelor’s degrees in those fields start their studies there. And community colleges are under pressure nationally to produce more technically trained workers who can help drive local economic development.

Mr. Treisman found that many instructors at community colleges were demoralized by their students’ high failure rates. “They’re working in a system that’s somewhat dysfunctional and broken, yet they’re teaching their hearts out,” he said. Effective teaching and career guidance are especially needed in those institutions because many of the students are poor, work part time, and constantly re-evaluate whether their studies will pay off.

However, many community colleges are wedded to traditional course sequences in math that aren’t clearly matched to career paths that might interest students, Mr. Treisman said. Instead of algebra and pre-calculus, he said, a more effective preparation for many jobs would often be a one-year sequence of general math followed by statistics.

Some institutions have succeeded at retaining students in technically oriented training programs — in biotechnology and in nursing and other allied health professions, for example — through some simple steps, he said. Those include enrolling students with similar interests in similar courses, the equivalent of learning communities.

Efforts like those, often financed by the NSF and other external sources, have helped some community colleges build “beautiful islands of excellence” in teaching math and science, Mr. Treisman said. But too often, the projects don’t survive when the money goes away, he said. Community colleges must build on one another’s successful approaches and not continually re-invent the wheel, he said (a challenge facing colleges of all types).

Despite the challenges, he was optimistic. Because of middle schools’ focused efforts at improving teaching, their students’ achievement in math has steadily improved. Why can’t that happen in community colleges? he asked. “Even on a crappy day, we can do amazing things for our students and our kids.” —Jeffrey Brainard

Comments

1. It sounds like the NSF should be cloning Uri Treisman and sending exact copies of his energy and creativity to all institutions that teach undergraduate math and science. I hope the math educators are listening to what this thoughtful mathematician has to say about education. Good post.

   — S. Britchky    Apr 16, 10:41 PM    #

2. Hurray! Someone who really understands the challenges of CC and CC students AND has some ideas on how to improve the situation!

   Thank you…

   — D Gillian    Apr 17, 10:59 AM    #

3. I have spent 19 years teaching math and science at community colleges. I see students at the CC’s who truly work against all odds to make something of themselves. Thanks Mr. Treisman for your encouraging ideas.

   — Robyn    Apr 17, 11:23 AM    #

4. A hunger for knowledge is profoundly missing in many students – and much of the cause is due to boundaries imposed by academic departmental domains and the emphasis on theory to the exclusion of application. Academia benefits greatly from defining domains and developing theory, but the need to map back to real world applications got lost in the equation. College became a stepping-stone on the way to adulthood instead of a center that developed problem solvers and innovators.

   Non-traditional students often have a much greater hunger for knowledge than the more elite students, who willingly accept that theory has much greater esteem than application. My mind digs deep when my students challenge me with “How can I USE this? What GOOD will this do?” Usually the student who offers that type of challenge is the first in his/her family to be in college or an under-represented minority. My elite students know better. They ask me how to get an ‘A’.

   — Cathie M. Currie, Ph.D.    Apr 17, 02:46 PM    #

5. Treisman makes a lot of sense. The “algebra-for-all” trend in math education persists because algebra is considered to be the “gateway” course for college. This is mentioned in the National Mathematics Advisory Panel’s report that was issued in March.
   Algebra is the required curriculum in California, for 9th grade students. It is the lowest class offered. The students only get remediation courses if they are also enrolled in algebra. I have had many cases of immigrant children who have had little or no education in their native countries, in mandatory 9th grade algebra classes, struggling with concepts when they don’t know how to multiply and divide, forget about fractions and percents. Hence, high school teachers are suffering too.
   The one-size-fits-all mentality for math education needs to be reevaluated.

   — K Carter    Apr 17, 04:40 PM    #

6. A few questions arise, concerning the purpose of higher education, whether through a two- or a four-year institution. Is it the purpose of higher education to prepare students for specific careers or to expose them to millennia of human experiences and knowledge? Is it to address a broad field of interests or the students’ narrower interests? Is it to produce well-rounded individuals or specialists? Is it the role of a community college to address the needs of the community in which it is located or those of the nation? Should two years at a community college be easier than or the equivalent of the first two years of a four-year institution? Is the completion of a two-year degree the goal of community college, or should community colleges prepare students to continue in a four-year institution? Unfortunately, the answer to all of these questions seems to be “Yes”, depending upon who is asked. Thus, the challenge to all institutions of higher learning, but especially for community colleges, is to be able to play many roles, satisfy many expectations, and do so for all students.

   — M. Hammerbacher    Apr 22, 01:24 PM    #

7. I sympathize with the author. However, I have to ask the question: why do we require any specific subject of study from any student? At what point is it decided that a subject is required? I can’t help but think there has been a deterioration of the “learning ethic” in our children. Many don’t see the need nor do they want to spend the time to do it. Sometimes it takes long periods of studying a concept to finally get it. Many of today’s students aren’t willing to do that. They want the answer right now. They don’t want to have to work for it. College is more than about learning. It is also about developing discipline and self-motivation. If I hired a person without either of these, I would most likely soon be looking for a replacement. They’ve got to learn this sometime. If not in community college, then where?

   — Marc Cullison    Apr 23, 01:17 PM    #

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