photo by: Shutterstock

High school graduation requirements for Kansas students soon may be changing, and the Kansas Board of Regents this week weighed in with a couple of suggestions: More math and more paperwork.

But those of you with a math phobia shouldn’t pull your hair out quite yet, because the Regents also began weighing the idea that far fewer college students actually need to take a college algebra course.

Come to find out, the answer to the age-old question of “When am I ever going to use this?” might be: Not often enough that you actually need to take a class in it.

“For decades, we have operated with this really archaic idea that everybody needs college algebra,” Daniel Archer, vice president of academic affairs for the Board of Regents, said at a meeting this week.

Originally, the topic of the meeting was possible changes to Kansas’ requirements for a high school diploma, but Regents — who oversee the state’s higher education system — expanded the conversation to include discussion about whether the state’s universities and community colleges take the right approach with math education.

Add it all up, and this week’s meeting could be the beginning of some significant changes for both high school and college students.

The Regents made a handful of recommendations to the State Board of Education, which is the body that will decide whether to change high school graduation requirements. Regents are recommending an additional year of math for high school students, a greater emphasis on computer science skills in high school, more opportunities for high school students to take college credit, and a requirement that high school students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — which can be a lengthy bit of federal paperwork.

The math change and the FAFSA requirement received the bulk of the discussion. Regents were less united on the idea of making completion of the FAFSA forms a requirement after some Regents expressed concern that there would be unintended consequences for school districts that may not have the staffing to ensure students follow through on the work. But the Regents kept the FAFSA requirement as part of their recommendations, as several Regents said it should help ensure that students aren’t missing out on financial aid opportunities for college or technical schools.

High school math

Regents were far more united on the idea of adding another year of math to the required high school curriculum.

Currently, high school students are only required to have three years of math. Regents said that’s a bad idea, especially for students who plan to continue their education after high school. Regents are recommending that the requirement be changed to four years of math.

“Some students don’t take math their senior year,” Archer told the Regents. “They sort of have a gap year, and math is one of those things that if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

That gap year becomes costly for both the students and the universities and community colleges. By not having math their senior year, many students end up needing to take a remedial math class in college. Sometimes students never do get back on track with their math studies.

The solution might be to never take the gap year, Regents were told.

“Taking a math class senior year is a really valuable predictor of success in college,” Archer said.

The State Board of Education ultimately will be tasked with deciding whether to increase the math requirements for high school graduation. The State Board of Education and the Regents were scheduled to have a joint meeting this week to discuss the topic, but Thursday’s snowstorm caused the meeting to be postponed to an undetermined date.

Also undetermined is what type of new math class might be required in high school. Regents were told that determination might be better made once universities and community colleges determine their strategy for math education.

College math

At the heart of the college math question is the importance of college algebra.

Archer said many math educators believe the primary value of a college algebra course is to prepare students to take a calculus course. If that is the case, then maybe far fewer college students need to take algebra because there are many degrees that don’t require calculus.

Archer said an emerging trend is the idea of “math pathways.” In a pathway scenario, business, science, engineering, technology and math majors likely would be required to take college algebra, plus a host of other math classes. But social science majors might be required to take an introduction to statistics class, while liberal arts majors might be required to take a quantitive reasoning class, which would teach a variety of basic math concepts to aid decision making.

The idea of math pathways has come up before, but several Regents said now is the time for the state to get serious about implementing it. Regent Cynthia Lane, who previously was the superintendent for the Kansas City, Kansas Public School System, called the prospect “exciting,” and said it should be considered for the K-12 system as well. Often, high school students are asked to pick a potential career path in high school, which could be used to determine a particular math pathway.

Regent Shellaine Kiblinger, who previously was the superintendent for Cherryvale Public Schools, said there’s another reason the state ought to get serious about making the change. She said in communities like hers, which is near the Oklahoma border, Kansas’ math strategy may be costing the state students.

She said it is likely that high school students who are considering their college options look at what the math requirements are. Those who have a fear of math may well be swayed to go to a state that has these math pathways already in place. Currently, Missouri, Colorado and Oklahoma all use the math pathway concepts.

“That’s an absolute reality,” Archer said, telling the board that academic officers at several universities or community colleges had reported losing students due to the issue.

Kiblinger said the math issue may be one of many that are contributing to a declining enrollment trend in state universities and community colleges.

“We need to consider this change for recruitment and retention of our students,” she said.

Regents took no action to formally create a math pathway strategy for the state’s higher education system, given that the topic wasn’t listed on its agenda for action. However, staff members said they would bring back ideas at a future meeting.

The paperwork

Regents agreed to ask the State Board of Education to consider a new requirement that students complete the FAFSA student financial aid form as part of their required tasks for graduation.

The idea is one that is gaining traction in other states. Louisiana was the first state to implement such a requirement, and recently Texas, California, and Illinois implemented the requirement.

All of the states provide some exceptions that allow students to graduate if they haven’t completed the form. As some Regents noted, it could be difficult for students to complete the form on their own, given that large parts of the form require information they may not have, such as the income levels of their parents.

But, even with the exceptions in place, the new requirement boosts the number of students who complete the form. After just one year, the completion rate in Louisiana grew by 26 percentage points to nearly 74%. As a point of comparison, just less than 47% of Kansas high school graduates completed a FAFSA in 2021.

All of the Regents said they saw value in students completing the FAFSA paperwork, but some also expressed concern about unintended consequences of making it a requirement for graduation. If school districts don’t have a good system in place to help students, the FAFSA forms could end up creating a bad first impression for students considering post-secondary education.

“I want to be careful that we are not sending them on a dead-end turn and not providing them support,” Regent Wint Winter said. “I don’t want them saying ‘I don’t want anything to do with going to one of these colleges, if it is this hard.'”

But Regents were told that now is the time to ask for the FAFSA to be a requirement for graduation, given that the State Board of Education is going through that process. The Regents can always stress to the State Board of Education that creating a good system for high schools to implement the requirement will be important.

In fact, Regents were told that system may be the most important part because completing the form likely will involve the student having several conversations with staff members of the high school. Getting students talking about college and understanding some of the financial help available will be a key to reversing or slowing Kansas’ declining college enrollment trend, Regents were told.

“Too many students perceive college as unaffordable,” said Blake Flanders, president and CEO of the Board of Regents. “This might be the first time they could see it as affordable.”

Kiblinger agreed, especially if high schools can create the right opportunities for student interaction as part of the FAFSA process.

“The FAFSA itself is not magic,” Kiblinger said. “The secret sauce is in the conversation that happens.”