The Critical Middle Years and the Relationship of Early Access to Algebra on High School Math Course Completion and College Readiness

Many students who enroll in higher education are unprepared to meet the challenges of postsecondary education. The probability that students will make a successful transition from high school to college is linked to the degree to which their secondary educational experiences have prepared them for the expectations and demands they will encounter in college. National findings provide continuing evidence that focusing on improving student achievement in mathematics will positively impact college readiness. The main problem addressed in this quantitative study was how educators can best prepare students for college readiness. Since college readiness is highly dependent upon math achievement in middle schools, postsecondary educators need additional research that explores how math curricula may ultimately impact the readiness of their college students. Therefore, seemingly benign decisions about placement of students in middle school math may ultimately impact greatly on their college readiness. In addition, the study focused on the implications of those placement decisions. Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) was used to determine those variables that were most significantly associated with students\u27 math-related college readiness as evidenced by advanced mathematics coursework taken beyond Algebra I