MANY STUDENTS LACK MATH SKILLS FOR JOBS

Many students lack math skills for jobs

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October 16, 2002

BY ROSALIND ROSSI EDUCATION REPORTER

Only 58 percent of Illinois public high school juniors have the math skills needed for the vast majority of jobs, including the ability to calculate fractions or determine a discount, new results from state tests showed Tuesday.

Among minority students, less than a quarter of African-American juniors and slightly more than a third of Hispanics knew the math needed for 90 percent of American jobs, ranging from bricklayer to secretary to nurse, the tests indicated.

There was some good news buried in the Prairie State Achievement Exams, released Tuesday and taken by Illinois public school juniors last spring. The state's average score on the ACT, used to evaluate college readiness, went up slightly, from 19.4 to 19.5 on a 36-point scale.

But this year's Prairie State, which debuted in 2001, also packed several causes for concern. On the ACT test, the percent of students reporting that they were taking what the ACT defines as a college-prep curriculum dropped slightly, from 40 percent to 39 percent.

More important, on the WorkKeys portion of the exam, meant to gauge job readiness, the percentage of kids displaying math skills needed for 90 percent of American jobs decreased, from 61percent to 58 percent.

The WorkKeys defines those jobs as "Level 3'' to "Level 5,'' ACT officials said. The test evaluates skills needed for seven levels of jobs.

Level 3 jobs include janitors, bricklayers, machine operators, file clerks, potato chip fryers and dog groomers. They can require such simple, single-step math skills as converting whole numbers to fractions, decimals or percentages, ACT officials say.

Level 5 jobs range from plumbers to nurses to medical lab technicians, and can call upon multiple-step math work, such as converting ounces to pounds, calculating perimeters, figuring discounts or completing a balance sheet.

Such jobs represent "the heart of America'' and are "critical to our everyday economy,'' said Jerry Roper, president of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.

"I'm concerned that more young people are unemployable than last year. I find it very distressing,'' Roper said. "This trend is trending downward, which doesn't bode well for companies in Illinois because we look to students as our future work force.''

In addition, Roper said, the results reflect a racial achievement gap that needs to be bridged--and quickly. The 68 percent of white students who achieved Level 3 to Level 5 math skills was nearly twice that of Hispanics and three times that of African-American students.

"We have to be concerned about this divide that's taking place between Hispanic, African-American and white students,'' Roper said. "We can't leave anyone behind.''

Jon Erickson, the ACT's assistant vice president for the Midwest Region, noted that the skills tested are "developmental,'' so students have time to fill in gaps before entering the work force.

In addition, Erickson said, more Illinois juniors were functioning at the highest levels of math, those needed for only 1 percent of jobs, such as a materials scientist or a field service engineer.

"That's exceptional,'' Erickson said. "Others would be envious to have those kind of students. But you could also say that's a concern, because those students may be settling for lower-level jobs and further push down students who score down in the lower levels.''