The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Lumina Foundation for Education, and the Bill & Melinda Gates and William and Flora Hewlett foundations have announced the launch of a two-year, $14 million initiative to improve success in mathematics among community college students.

Led by the Carnegie Foundation, the initiative aims to double the proportion of community college students who within one year of continuous enrollment are mathematically prepared to succeed in further academic study or pursuits, regardless of their limitations in language, literacy, and/or math or their ability to navigate college. To accomplish the goal, nineteen partner institutions in five states will work to develop two mathematics "pathways": a Statistics Pathway designed to help developmental math students progress through transferable college statistics in a year, and a one-semester Mathematical Literacy Pathway that replaces elementary and intermediate algebra followed by a college-level math course.

As many as 60 percent of students enrolled in U.S. community colleges must take at least one remedial course — also called developmental education — to build their basic academic skills. The vast majority of community college students referred to developmental math do not successfully complete the sequence of required courses, and many leave college.

"Developmental mathematics courses become a roadblock to success for our nation's community college students," said Carnegie Foundation president Anthony S. Bryk. "We are wasting precious human potential. The high cost of denied dreams and unfulfilled aspirations is unacceptable. Rather than a gateway to a college education and a better life, mathematics has become an unyielding gatekeeper."