How UC Berkeley is closing the math readiness gap

“This course is outstanding,” said Drisana Bhatia, a math major who tutored “Foundations of Lower Division Mathematics” last summer and fall. “It’s really well thought-out, pedagogically. Professor Paulin is so experienced with teaching, and the way he creates resources is very student-focused. He has created all these video lectures and worksheets to prepare students for introductory, college-level calculus.”

“What's been done is fantastic, and I've seen it work,” she continued.

Bhatia praised the summer session’s discussion sessions in particular. She joined 30 to 40 students on a regularly scheduled Zoom call, guiding their progress over several weeks. That regularity fostered a supportive learning community that is often hard to find in giant lecture halls.

“It’s a bit of a long game,” said Paulin. “Students aren’t going to suddenly rocket from D’s to A-pluses in the course of their first semester. It comes later. I’ve had a lot of students who, at the start of the year, are blown out of the water by Calculus 1. By the end of the year in Calculus 2, they’re one of the best students in the class. It’s not unusual.”

Paulin’s mission is to retain students in STEM fields (meaning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). He observed that many students abandon technical majors after struggling in introductory mathematics. By providing tools to bridge these foundational gaps, Paulin aims to help students achieve the baseline proficiency required to excel in professions ranging from research to data analysis to executive management.

“Understanding algebra is foundational to career success and calculus,” said Bhatia. Some of her students intended to become elementary school teachers, and the refresher course helped them feel more confident with the sort of math they would be teaching.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted students at a critical time in their development, exacerbating disparities for students lacking private academic support. UC San Diego’s report underscores this phenomenon: The number of first-year students in remedial math courses surged from 32 in 2020 to 390 in 2022. By the fall of 2025, 921 UC San Diego students were taking foundational math courses.

However, many math instructors fear that this is a long-term trend. In the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, high school graduates scored worse in math than in any previous assessment: 45 percent were “below basic.” 

Recognizing the scale of this challenge, the University of California’s Office of the President approached Paulin with a proposal to adapt “Foundations of Lower Division Mathematics” for high school students. The University of California system partners with a nonprofit, the National Education Opportunity Network, to make college credit-bearing courses available in low-income high schools. Knowing that some teachers wouldn’t have math backgrounds, Paulin broke down his materials into smaller pieces with detailed instructions.

“It’s an awesome model, and it was very fortuitous when they contacted me,” said Paulin. “This is very targeted, especially for vulnerable groups. It was a monumental task, but it all came together.”