(CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Illinois lawmakers should do more to help K-12 educators improve student performance in math, according to a new report from the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs.

According to the Illinois Report Card, 38 percent of the state’s third- through eighth-graders in 2024 showed proficiency in math. Performance in other subjects has rebounded past pre-pandemic levels.

The report urges state lawmakers to address what it calls “stubborn inequities” in math education. Co-author Erica Mason, an assistant professor of special education, says K-12 education must do more to lift up children who are “marginalized:” “Those students consistently and persistently don’t get the same opportunities to learn or to develop numeracy or to develop a fluency and a flexibility in using mathematics in their everyday lives.”

Co-author Phi Nguyen, an assistant professor of mathematics education, says numeracy is more than just another way to say math: “It means being mathematically and statistically literate, being able to make sense of numbers in a variety of ways and being able to problem solve with numbers.”

The report’s recommendations for lawmakers: require children in grades K-5 to have an hour a day of math instruction; beef up elementary teacher education to require 12-15 credits of math; and fund math coaches in schools. Nguyen cites Alabama as an example; that state has a math coach in every elementary school.