Doesn’t add up

One year ago, Greg Barone, a math teacher at Western High School, penned a revealing op-ed for the Review-Journal.

He recounted how optimism quickly transformed into disappointment after he tested his students early in the school year to determine where they stood.

“I think it was the 67 percent class average on that first test — the test that was supposed to be a review of basic math,” Mr. Barone wrote. “Yes, it was somewhere around that time that I started to wonder if the rainbow was just an illusion.”

He soon discovered that his students included many “who supposedly did well in earlier math classes, though their level of knowledge is grossly inconsistent with their grades.”

Mr. Barone’s observations are worth remembering given the revelation this week that almost 91 percent of Clark County high school students who took a basic algebra test to gauge their skills failed the exam. In geometry, more than 87 percent bombed.

“Maybe this is the shock we need to get the system fixed,” said district Superintendent Walt Rulffes.

If only that were so.

The real shock is why the dismal results would come as a surprise to anybody. Clark County’s national test scores have for years telegraphed this abysmal situation. Thousands of Las Vegas-area students who win Millennium Scholarships to a Nevada university — earning at least a 3.25 high school GPA — aren’t prepared for entry level English and math classes when they arrive on campus. Meanwhile, a high percentage of Clark County students struggle mightily each year to answer basic math questions on the state high school proficiency exam.

What’s the surprise?

Apologists for the results cite a number of factors. The test was too long. Processing errors meant some schools failed to count many passing tests. The district is short on qualified math teachers. Teachers failed to teach the proper curriculum. Classes are too big. Blah, blah, blah.

In fact, there’s likely a much simpler — and disconcerting — explanation: Many district high school kids simply lack the elementary math skills necessary to learn algebra or geometry.

If Mr. Rulffes truly wants to attack the problem, he and his administrators must work backward. How many high school kids managed to pass through fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade and beyond without knowing their multiplication tables? How many children come home with reasonable grades during middle school but can’t add two fractions?

The district can pat itself on the back for demanding that every high schooler take an algebra class. But as these test results show, it’s nothing more than a sham if kids can fly through the lower grades without ever mastering rudimentary reading and calculation skills.

And that — as Mr. Barone pointed out — is the real tragedy.