Are Students Prepared for College-Level Math? A Senator Wants to Know

a chalkboard with some writing on it

Are high school students getting the preparation they need for college math? The question, long a focus of study in K-12 math education and policy, is now the subject of a Senate inquiry.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, sent letters to nearly three dozen selective colleges and universities on Friday, requesting information about the math abilities of their incoming first-year students.

The move follows the release of a November report from the University of California, San Diego, which found a steep increase over the past five years in the number of freshmen at the institution requiring remedial math classes.

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