Monday Morning: Making math really count for something

Last month, more than half of the high school students who took the New York State Board of Regents mathematics exam, which they needed to pass to graduate, failed.

The distressing failure rate is evidence of poor student performance, poor teacher performance, a poorly designed exam, or all three.

Whatever the cause, it is yet another example of the parlous state of math education in the nation’s schools.

In the institutional investment world, mathematics is vital. It’s impossible to value a company if you can’t calculate the present value of a projected stream of earnings. You need a higher level of mathematical ability to use the Black-Scholes model to calculate the value of options, which are embedded in many securities and even things such as home mortgages.

Financial services companies should take a strong interest in doing whatever they can to improve education in general, and mathematical education in particular. Executives at most such companies, if they ever give the matter any thought, probably can’t figure out how they can get involved.

But executives at The Hartford (Conn.) Financial Services Group Inc. are taking action.

Most recently, the company, which spends almost $5 million a year supporting educational initiatives for local schools, pledged $35,000 to fund the introduction of a revolutionary new mathematics program in one local school.

According to senior vice president Lynda Godkin, improving the basics of reading, writing and math skills in the local schools is a key goal of The Hartford’s philanthropic program.

making a difference

After the Hartford school system and the local school’s principal saw a demonstration of the program, the company’s grant committee approved the funding.

The program is based on the work of Rachel McAnallen, an extraordinarily successful teacher of mathematics to students grades 1-12. It’s being developed and distributed by AEON KNOWLEDGE Inc. of Bloomfield, Conn.

With funding from institutions such as The Hartford, Ms. McAnallen has been filmed teaching different mathematical concepts to students in different grades using her unique techniques, and the film library will be made available to subscribing schools through an Internet portal known as Math Channel.

She spends mornings teaching classes while the school’s own teachers observe. She then spends the afternoon conducting a workshop on her methods for the school’s teachers.

The films are provided to the participating school for free. Other schools will be able to subscribe to the Math Channel for $200 per teacher per year to gain exposure to the techniques.

According to Charles L. Munigle, president of AEON, about 250 schools around the country have adopted the program and subscribed, and Math Channel went live for those subscribers July 8.

The state of Rhode Island has subscribed to the program for 15,000 of its math teachers, Mr. Munigle says, and Maryland is funding subscriptions for its teachers in Prince Georges County.

Given the importance of math to the financial services industry, surely many financial services companies might find it worthwhile to follow The Hartford’s example and think about financing such a program.

And given the profit margins of money managers and other financial companies, $35,000 a year seems a paltry sum to invest in improving the math skills of the nation’s students.

If each financial services company, whether large bank or small investment adviser, subsidized such a program for one school, the math abilities of thousands of students could be improved each year.

Mike Clowes is the editorial director of InvestmentNews and sister publication Pensions & Investments.