Getting real with math

Gov. Chris Gregoire injects a necessary dose of reality by proposing a three-year delay in the requirement that students pass a statewide math test in order to graduate high school.

Gregoire offers this grim assessment evident all along: Many Washington students are ill-prepared for the rigors of math. No further evidence is needed than the failure of nearly half of the state's sophomores — about 34,000 — on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning math test last spring and in summer re-takes. Many students did so poorly they will need several years of intensive math to meet state standards. Gregoire and Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson agree on a reprieve. Members of the classes of 2008, 2009 and 2010 would have been the first classes required to pass all three sections of the WASL to graduate. Contingent upon approval by the Legislature, those classes could graduate by successfully completing a series of math courses.

This could work, but the devil is in the details, which should include the following:

• A math focus, much like the literacy initiatives that have worked so well, must be in place in all districts.

• More teachers with background and training in mathematics must be hired and moved to the front lines of instruction, chiefly working with learners struggling the most.

• Bergeson and her staff must decide exactly what should be taught. There are more than 50 math curriculums used in schools around the state.

But the above won't resolve the deeper fissures exposed by WASL's failure rates in math.

Our schools are not educating all children, a fact highlighted by the WASL results. While 57 percent of white 10th-graders and 60 percent of Asian American students across the state met math standards on the WASL this spring, just 23 percent of African-American students and 25 percent of Hispanics students did.

There is a disconnect when it comes to high-achieving students as well. Bellevue Superintendent Mike Riley tells Seattle Times education reporter Lynn Thompson that many of the district's students do well on the math section of the SAT but stumble on the WASL.

The change in timeline does not mean a retreat on the WASL. Let's hold everyone's feet to the fire on this one. Educators and lawmakers are expected to use the extra time to make substantive changes to math instruction and curriculum.