Retired Professor with PhD in Physics and Mathematics...shared his concerns with leaders in Olympia.

Dr. Richerzhagen gave me permission to post his letter that went out to 25 Legislators with only three responses.

Theodore Richerzhagen III, Ph.D.

I am deeply concerned that this year some 14,000 plus students will be stigmatized and have their future damaged because they are not able to pass a “college ready” math test to obtain a high school diploma.

I taught chemistry for 36 years at WWCC, where I also served as Math-Science Chair and as the local director of a Title 9 grant with CBC and YVC helping Latino and other “at risk” students succeed in math and science. That background makes me familiar with the problem of students graduating from high school inadequately prepared to make progress in college-level math and science classes. Some of this we found to be an artifact of testing and scheduling. For example, math is like any language skill, and becomes rusty if not used. Many of the students who failed their math-screening test were a year or more out of their last math class and only appear to lack the necessary math skills. A rubric developed at WWCC used high school math course grades to further screen this failing group and identify those allowed to bypass remedial math classes. Those allowed to go on by the rubric experienced a high degree of success in their college-level math class.

My greatest concern is that many students neither want nor need college-level math classes to be productive members of society. We need two paths, decided on by the student and family in high school. The first pointing to college and requiring college ready skills in math and other disciplines. The second indicating the ability to be a productive member of society and meet the minimum requirements for professional technical programs in the State.

Please do not stigmatize and damage the future for students who neither need nor desire an academic college education. To maintain the current college ready math requirement for all high school graduates is elitist and damaging to the future of many students, a high proportion of whom are minorities.

Respectfully,

Theodore Richerzhagen III, Ph.D.