By Brendan Henry
The Surveyor

America’s test scores in math are on a downward trend internationally and these scores can be seen at the local level. Thompson School District’s (TSD) students are having trouble meeting or exceeding mathematical expectations for standards that are lower than many other developed countries.

According to Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS), which is a standardized test for 3rd through 8th graders, less than half of all students in TSD met or exceeded the state’s math expectations in 2023. 26.8% of the district’s students met expectations, while only 4.3% of the district’s 6,082 students with valid scores exceeded expectations. Over a quarter of 8th graders in the district failed to meet expectations at 27.8%, while 6th graders were close behind sitting at 22.5%.

During the last school board election cycle, multiple candidates expressed their concern over low mathematical achievement in TSD. Yazmin Navarro and Berthoud’s own Elizabeth Kearney were not shy to voice their opinions on what they claimed to be a constantly changing math curriculum and the failure of said curriculum to improve test scores.

Colorado as a whole saw similar percentages as TSD in the math category. 3rd grade took the cake for meeting expectations state-wide at 40.4% and grades 6th and 7th struggled at 28.2% and 26.3% respectively. To compare these scores to English Language Arts (ELA), the lowest meeting expectations percentage was 3rd grade at 39.9% state-wide, with all other grades hitting between 40 and 50 percent.

This aligns with the findings from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization that focuses on world trade and economic growth. The OECD has tracked test scores for reading and math since 2000, and the U.S. scores 22 points above average internationally for reading—but the story for math is different. Although the global trend for math scores is downward, the U.S. still falls 15 points behind the OECD average score.

These shortcomings in math proficiency have made the U.S. less competitive in the global market. Studies have shown after looking across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that America’s current way of teaching math is archaic.

Other countries with higher proficiency do not teach classes like Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II, they teach Math I, II and III. These “Math” classes integrate algebra and geometry in a more meaningful way instead of throwing every concept of one subject at students in a semester. Some people are even looking at cutting out the fat in the American math curriculum to make it both specialized and interesting to learn.

“We need to raise the bar for education in America,” U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said after seeing the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results.

PISA has the U.S. ranked 34th in math scores, falling behind most European and Asian countries. The overall score, including math, reading and science, puts the U.S. at 18th overall. While TSD’s scores are not unique in the U.S., there is plenty to work on to gain global competitiveness.