High school math teaching doesn't add up

A paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Education Finance and Policy has shown that students taking lower-level classes, and those in schools in underprivileged areas, have less chance of having a qualified math teacher (one with a degree or other qualification in the subject). This is despite numerous policy efforts in the past decade to ensure that all children receive teaching of the same quality. The study used data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, which includes over 12,000 students linked to mathematics teachers in over 700 public schools. The research is a correlational study based on cross-sectional data, and does not seek to draw out possible causes.

Johns Hopkins University

School of Education

Center for Research and Reform in Education

Research in Brief