The mid-20th century push for high school calculus nurtured generations of future STEM professionals. While the growth of high school calculus is often seen as an educational success story, the emphasis on calculus has also exacerbated opportunity gaps along racial and socioeconomic lines, and crowded out other important math topics that are essential in today’s data-driven world.
The Limits of Calculus: Revisiting the Role of Math Education in College Admissions, a report by Just Equations in collaboration with the National Association for College Admission Counseling, shows that many admissions officers consider courses such as data science and statistics valuable to student success, but that calculus remains the gold standard in college admissions, despite significant and persistent inequitable access for underserved students.
Even though fewer than 5 percent of colleges require calculus for incoming students, and those that do are typically STEM-focused institutions, 89 percent of college admissions officers surveyed for the report agreed with the statement that students who take high school calculus are more likely to succeed in college.
This report dives into the perceptions and realities of the outsize role calculus can play in college admissions and examines new approaches that would be more equitable for college admissions while increasing access to a wider range of rigorous, high school math courses.
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