Exploring Geographic Differences in High School Math Curricula, College Enrollment, and Postsecondary Math Remediation

Abstract: Few studies have examined the relationship between remedial and developmental education and rural students. In our analysis, we explore patterns in high school math course-taking and subsequent enrollment in remedial college math courses for rural/town students compared to a baseline nationally representative cohort of suburban students. Using restricted high school transcript data from the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS:09), our logistic regression results reveal that rural/town students were more likely to take lower-level math courses when entering high school and were less likely to take advanced math courses before graduating. We contextualize these findings by considering possible differences in math Opportunities to Learn (OTLs) in rural/town high schools, finding that rural/town schools were less likely to offer advanced math courses and math support programs compared to suburban schools. We then examine enrollment in postsecondary education and find that rural/town students in our sample were more likely to enroll at two-year colleges compared to four-year colleges. We observed no differences in remedial course-taking between rural/town students and suburban students attending two-year colleges, but rural/town students attending four-year colleges were more likely to take remedial math courses than their suburban peers, even after controlling for a variety of demographic and academic factors. We discuss the implications of beginning high school in lower-level math courses and the importance of early interventions to support students’ readiness for college math.