By Shakiyya Bland, Ed.D.

Decisions that happen in higher education have a pronounced effect on high school students’ math opportunities and access to college. The more aware that math faculty are of this influence, the more they can contribute to making the pathways to college more accessible.

High school calculus should not be the “singular end goal of a PK-12 mathematics curriculum.” That’s the position issued by the Mathematical Association of America and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. But that’s not the message many high school students are getting when it comes to college admissions, Just Equations, a California-based policy institute focused on the role of mathematics in education equity, learned in a set of focus groups. As one student told us,

“It was like an unstated rule. … If you wanted to go to a good college later on, you would have had to take AP Calculus early on, just so colleges would see that you’re competitive.”

In Just Equations’s new report, Integral Voices: Examining Math Experiences of Underrepresented Students, my co-authors and I examined the experiences of college students in planning their high school math course schedules with college admissions in mind. In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision to eliminate race-conscious admission policies, equitable access to high school math courses takes on added importance.

For Integral Voices, Just Equations partnered with Southern California College Attainment Network— an alliance of 118 Los Angeles college-access organizations.  We worked with the Let’s Go to College California program, a student-led virtual hub of college resources, and with the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), an organization of professionals guiding students in the transition from secondary to postsecondary education.

The students surveyed were largely Latinx, Black, Asian, or residing in low-income households.  Some students were also the first generation in their family to go to college. They were asked about their access to high school math courses, beliefs about college expectations, and perspectives about admissions and high school counselors' advice.

The report found that high school students need access to accurate and complete information regarding the college admissions process and which high-level math courses will best prepare them for their degree program, but not all receive it.

In Integral Voices, 40 percent of Latinx students, 31 percent of Black students, and 28 percent of Asian student respondents identified “access to information” as their greatest barrier in the college admissions process. Some students’ comments in focus groups revealed a lack of clarity about math course requirements for college admission. Noted one student,

“I wasn't really told what kinds of math courses colleges were looking for, but I assume that any high-level math courses such as AP courses were important to them. I also think calculus was the main math course they were looking for.”

Said another,

“My counselors always placed me in courses they thought fit best. I did not even know I could choose or change my classes until senior year of high school.”

Many held the default assumption that calculus was needed for admission at selective colleges. This advice helped some students, but put others at a disadvantage with respect to their majors, such as this student:

“I took and passed AP Calculus, but my college did not accept it because I believe it is different from statistics. I did not have any statistics classes in my high school, so I was at a disadvantage.”

As a mathematics community, it is imperative for us to advocate for just solutions to these disparities. We can support students by:

• Adopting broader, more transparent math requirements for admission.

  • Admissions offices, in collaboration with math faculty and faculty in other disciplines, should review course requirements and expand the range of math courses accepted for admission to include options that align with various fields of study—such as data science, computer science, and statistics—in addition to the traditional algebra-to-calculus sequence.

• Increasing access to course counseling and support in high school.

  • High schools should prioritize communicating college access information to students of color, first-generation, and students residing in low-income households.

• Cultivating cross-collaboration among higher ed and state education departments.

  • Collaboration among state education departments and higher ed math faculty is essential to expanding opportunities, including dual-credit math course options for students in lower-resourced schools.

Without supportive advice from mathematics educators and counselors, students are responsible for finding out most of the information about college admissions on their own. Student success is a collective responsibility that includes us all: educators, families, policy makers, and college access professionals. 

Educators also need to re-evaluate the race to calculus, and how calculus course-taking can support students’ goals. Currently, the pressure is largely based on student assumptions about what colleges want to see on transcripts, regardless of whether calculus aligns with their career aspirations or intended majors.

“There was like this major rush to get into AP Calculus like your junior year. So in order to do that people were taking a lot of math classes over the summer. Personally, I took geometry and Algebra II in just one summer to hopefully catch up to meet that goal.”

Educators interested in advancing equity in mathematics can also consider:

• Constructing equity-centered action plans and policies that include mentorship and academic advising inclusive of the racialized experiences of students and faculty,

• Seeking to understand how power, caste systems, racism and other oppressive policies and practices act as barriers for students seeking a quality education,

• Breaking down identified barriers and expand supports for students who have been disenfranchised by systemic inequalities,

• Engaging with math organizations that promote improving outcomes for students transitioning from the last two years of high school into the first two years of postsecondary education, and

• Advocating for policies that collect data about recruiting decisions, district data tracking attrition by race, and data assessment and information sharing for programs prioritizing equitable access.

The journey to college involves not just students and their families, but also college admissions officers and math educators. Every student deserves every chance to succeed. But too many are left behind.

It’s time for admissions officers, educators, and counselors to be more transparent and more collaborative in providing greater access and understanding of the high school courses that will prepare students for success in college and beyond.

Shakiyya Bland is a longtime math educator and curriculum specialist with deep experience in culturally responsive education. Her research focuses on the histories of STEM using Africana, Indigenous, and other culturally responsive ways of contributing to and applying scientific and mathematical literacies. She holds a B.S. in Education, M.A. in Education–Curriculum Instruction and Mathematics, and an Ed.D. in Education Leadership.