GIRLS CAN DO MATH IF THEY TRY:

By Leanna Landsmann, Syndicated Columnist

Question:  My middle-school daughter, Tamika, is failing algebra.  She had good math grades in elementary school, but hates it now.  Her teachers tell her to try harder.  Her father thinks girls aren't good at math, so we shouldn't push her.  She must pass this course or go to summer school.  Is she one of those girls who will struggle in higher-level math?

Answer:  She doesn't need to be.  Consider these steps.

First, fight the stereotype that girls can't do math.  Girls have been short-changed in math and science for years because of harmful myths about their innate ability.  "It's time to say, enough!" says Jan Abraham, a new high school math teacher in Bath, N. Y.  She switched to teaching mid-career to interest more girls in it.  "Math was always fun for me and I want to share my enthusiasm.  In my class, there's no such thing as a 'bad math gene.'"

Old notions about girls' abilities still permeate the culture, even among educators.  No less than the president of Harvard was taken to task for questioning women's intrinsic aptitude for math in 2005.

Yet a recent study reported in the July 23, 2008 journal, Science, shows that girls are performing just as well in math as boys.  Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California, Berkeley, reviewed the math scores from 7 million students who were tested for the No Child Left Behind Act and found that girls measured up to boys at all levels.

University of Wisconsin professor Janet Hyde, the study's leader, says cultural beliefs about gender differences in math performance have a negative impact on a learner's confidence level.  If a dad or a teacher thinks a girl can't do math, she may lower herself to that expectation.

Second, ask Tamika's teacher to assess whether she has mastered the skills needed to learn algebra.  The national effort to strengthen students' knowledge in science, technology and math has pushed many middle-schoolers who have yet to master multiplication, division and fractions into algebra classes.

Without these basic skills, it's hard to succeed.  Brookings Institution researcher Tom Loveless studied eighth-graders taking algebra, and he found that between 2000 and 2005, the percentage of very low-performing students in advanced math classes more than tripled.  In his report, Lovelace describes students trying to master algebra with skills on a par with a typical second-grader's.  If Tamika's skills are weak, get school or private tutoring.

Third, help her improve her perception of math.  Teacher Jaime Escalante, famously profiled in the movie "Stand and Deliver," showed students that math was a cool, useful skill.  Most math teachers link classroom instruction with real-life examples.  If hers doesn't, rent the DVD for family movie night.

Check out two books on math targeted to teen girls:  Kiss My Math!" (Hudson Street Press, 2008) and "Math Doesn't Suck:  How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail"  (Plume, 2008).  Danica McKellar, an honors math grad from UCLA who played Winnie Cooper on TV's "The Wonder Years," wrote them to keep girls from "dumbing themselves down when it comes to math."  They aren't your grandmother's math texts, but their "girl-friendly" content asks readers to take algebra seriously.  A danicamckellar.com, McKellar invites girls to e-mail her questions.  You can also find fun algebra challenges on National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Web site, www.figurethis.org.

Finally talk with the school's curriculum director about hosting an "all About Algebra" event along the lines of "Family Math Nights" in elementary schools.  I'm betting there are other parents in Tamika's middle-school who'd like to learn more about how to help their teen master algebraic thinking.