Math Standards: Better equation

Washington students deserve a better, more challenging education in mathematics. That will require many changes, beginning but hardly ending with higher expectations.

A new report for the state Board of Education provides useful insight into what school districts ought to teach students. The study highlights areas that critics have worried about: basic math skills, including the ability to solve number problems, at every level. Students need to reach higher levels of math to be ready for college or skilled job opportunities.

The board's report goes to Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson, whose office faces a huge challenge in translating the ideas into new math standards by January for the 2008 Legislature. But the report gives the commendably collaborative Bergeson a good starting point.

There is also a lot to do for students, teachers and families. The state let problems build in math until it became clear that huge numbers of high school students couldn't meet a planned graduation requirement to pass Washington Assessment of Student Learning tests in the subject by 2008.

Now the state has a better base for future changes. But progress will depend as much or more on improving teacher training, new teaching techniques (there have to be more options for translating kids' computer skills into academic gains), and rotating top teachers into poorer schools. Like students, the state must pay attention to basics.