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Saving Our Dropouts By Saving Math: Math Scores Can Predict Who Survives High School

A 2005 investigation by Johns Hopkins University and the Philadelphia Education Fund revealed that as many as half of all Philadelphia high school dropouts showed signs that predicted their early exit from school as early as the sixth grade. Four factors were essential in predicting these AWOL students: poor attendance, poor behavior, failing math, and failing grades in English. Such research is indispensable in the fight to raise educational standards in the United States and to help struggling students conquer their academic enemies.

It’s hard to extrapolate precisely why so many drop out of school early and why these events are so strongly linked to math and English scores, specifically. Perhaps the current school system is not flexible enough to accommodate different learning styles and conditions such as ADHD for such difficult subjects, an argument alternative education theorists have been making for decades. Perhaps factors outside the school environment, such as difficulties at home, are to blame. Perhaps poor study techniques and lack of assistance in correcting them are to blame. Of course, no single explanation will do… but in my quest to find real, practical solutions, I decided to start with a factor everyone can control: study skills. In particular, one of the most difficult of all: math study skills.

Hey, which one of us is, or was, the perfect student? Do we always clear a room to study, take breaks when we should, or have what we need close at hand? How often did we get up for snacks when math homework became too overwhelming? Do we always ask for the algebra help, geometry help, or calculus help that we really needed? Math tutors could have saved us a lot of pain, but losing our pride seemed too precious to our teenage hearts. Guilty myself, I decided it was time to call in a heavyweight for advice.

Dr. Christine Benson, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Northwestern Missouri State University, is one of the most qualified people in the country to recommend effective math study techniques. Having earned an interdisciplinary doctorate in mathematics and education from the University of Missouri, Dr. Benson also received an MSEd, taught public school mathematics for eight years, and has been teaching mathematical methods courses at NWMSU for the past twelve. Here are some of her top recommendations to get her rating.

(1) Study in several short sessions of twenty to thirty minutes, and then take a break! There’s not much your poor mind can take in at once, and research shows that putting the book on the brain for shorter, intermittent periods, rather than forcing yourself into longer intensive sessions, is much more effective. Plus (unlike most things that are good for you) you’ll probably find this much easier.

(2) Study every day. Math is a bit like learning a language: it takes hours and hours of constant, sometimes tedious and irritating work to get the job done. It also tends to build up with cold indifference; In each lesson, you will learn new concepts that depend on your understanding of those from the last time. Falling behind will only increase your frustration exponentially, because you won’t have the right tools to understand new materials. Discipline pays off! Soon, you’ll be able to understand concepts (the language of math, so to speak) that you never thought possible. You will feel like the brilliant person you really are. It just takes practice.

(3) Don’t just memorize the steps of an equation. “I know, I know,” you say. “Try to understand it, that’s what everyone tells me.” But whether we like it or not, it’s true. You’ll remember formulas much better if you can understand the bigger pictures behind them and integrate new information into what you already know. It will also be much easier to reason through questions that don’t precisely fit the models you studied, but require you to use the broader concepts of them.

(4) Ask questions! Don’t be embarrassed to raise your hand and engage in a real discussion about all the whys of all these whats. You can’t fully integrate the concepts you’re trying to learn until you understand at least some of why they work and what they’re intended for.

(5) Include brain-boosting protein in your snacks. It’s okay to snack while studying, but don’t limit yourself to carbs.

(6) If your eyes start to droop while you’re up all night (or all day), wake up with some physical activity. Get the traffic flowing! Go for a walk, do some jumping jacks or push-ups, go for a short jog, whatever it takes to change your setup and wake up your body.

(7) Duplicate the test room setup. If you are going to take your exam in a quiet and controlled environment (which is most likely), then study in that environment. No music, no TV, no loud noises or chatty friends coming and going to distract you. Train your brain to work with the stimuli that will be there when you take the test.

(8) Get a good night’s sleep and eat a protein-rich meal before the dreaded exam. You can’t do your best if you don’t feel your best.

At least something can be controlled. Failing at something, or even not doing as well as you know you could, can be absolutely maddening. However, Dr. Benson has shown us that there are things he can do. If you’re a parent, enforce the rules. Set your child up for success by providing the right environment. If you’re a student, hey, you just got free advice from an expert, and you didn’t even have to tell anyone you needed it.