Solutions and strategies for reducing high school dropout rates due to mathematics.

Overview Many people do not understand how crucial mathematics is to our future, especially students, so we will explain. High school students are the first to ask teachers “When will I need to know this?” While there are many jobs where you won’t necessarily need to know how to perform complex algebraic equations, we later find out it’s the logical thought process we develop over many years of math that help us become critical thinkers for everyday problems.

Mathematics’ effect on dropouts Statistics show that many high school student dropouts are related to mathematics. The fact that there are too many math requirements in high school has become a burden for some students. The same statistics show that increasing the mathematics workload without an opt-out can increase the dropout rate as well. There's an obvious relationship between lower budget school and lower performing students.

Encouraging Math Encouraging math comes mainly from teachers and parents. Parents teach the basics like counting on their fingers, while teachers take the baton at preschool/kindergarten where they will start developing their math career. It’s essential to start at an early age where students are most retentive.

Parental Encouragement Early motivation is key and always has been. It’s the responsibility of the parents to keep the child interested early in his or her development to stay on track. This type of encouragement is possibly the most difficult to make improvements in considering the vast childhood upbringings each child could be facing. There is no way to regulate early childhood mathematics skills like there is The Texas School Board.

Teacher Encouragement The next step in keeping a student inspired is to have a caring and skilled teacher. Just because one is a teacher does not mean they are a great teacher. The teacher needs to be well versed in aspects of learning strategies. A good teacher can make or break a students mathematical development. Just as their the students who experience their first“ah- hah!” moments in their math classes there are students who hit rock bottom where nothing makes sense.

Early Age Encouragement Kids at an early age are more absorbent to information from all sources. Instead of having one teacher teach all the subjects in elementary school they should have another teacher teach them only math. This teacher will be knowledgeable in all strategies and for early childhood mathematics techniques, instead of having a jack-of-all-trades teacher. This would give them a more core understanding of the basics so when they reach high school they don’t feel so behind and compelled to dropout.

High school mathematics reform We must think of the other side of the spectrum. Undoubtedly there are others not mathematically inclined. There are some students whose literary or artistic skills far exceed their mathematical skills and these students shouldn’t have to feel the pressure of dropping out because of the intense math requirement most high schools have. Accelerating mathematics at an early age where they are more absorbent to new ideas to where they take algebra by the 8 th grade could mean a lower drop out rate.

Conclusion Lowering the dropout rate among high school students starts and ends with the parents, but ultimately it lies with the teachers whose primary responsibility is to introduce new concepts in fun and interesting ways to keep the student inspired. A skilled dedicated teacher in early childhood would help many students struggling. It may even lead to more accelerated math being introduced at younger ages. Mathematics is a core skill that everyone should have regardless of their profession however towards high school they should be given the option to pursue advanced mathematics according to their chosen field of study. However accelerating mathematics at an early age may even capture the not-so mathematically inclined to the point where they continue to pursue advanced mathematics.