Ward said the advisers on the 23 state-supported campuses recommended that students get the remedial courses during their first semester, but some did not heed the advice and others could not fit the classes into their schedules. But the vice president said even more students would succeed if the state Legislature agreed to pay for all high school juniors to take a math aptitude test. The test, which was supported by Gov. Tommy G. Thompson but slashed from the state budget in a last-minute deal last year, tells students their current skill level in math and what college or technical school courses they would have to take. Students who score poorly on the test feel inspired to take math courses in their senior year of high school and to prepare for math courses in college, Ward said. But legislators who argued students were tested too often shied from paying for the tests and local school districts were reluctant to take money from other priorities to pay for the tests.
Nobody wants to pay for it.
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 10, 2000. Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved.