I am certainly not surprised that 80 percent of high-school juniors failed to demonstrate proficiency on the mathematics portion of the New England Common Assessment Program standardized test.

For almost 10 years I’ve been complaining that Rhode Island has an abundance of unqualified, incompetent and apathetic math teachers in our public schools. Memo to parents: If your son or daughter’s algebra or geometry teacher has only a B.A. in education (a content-deprived college major weighed down with onerous requirements) and not a B.S. in mathematics or a related science, your son or daughter is probably being taught by someone who is clueless about core math concepts and who cannot instruct without the use of the teacher’s edition of the textbook.

Is it any wonder Rhode Island students can’t do math? Until we start attracting qualified, competent, and passionate math people from the private sector, we will see dismal scores from our public high school students.

I’m one of those private-sector people. I have been teaching math to both inner-city and suburban students since 1996 through jobs I’ve held at both public and private high schools, the Children’s Crusade, Community College of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, Johnson & Wales University, the Brown Educational Alliance and the Sawyer School. I have taught countless SAT/ACT preparation courses, and I run a successful private tutoring business with an established clientele throughout the state. The certification/credentialing requirements to become a secondary-school math teacher are ridiculous and unfortunately attract individuals who can’t get the job done.

Parents, you fund your child’s public education through property taxes. Look at these results! Speak up, and hold the Rhode Island Department of Education and the administrators and math teachers at our public high schools accountable for their failure to do their job.

BRIAN SILVESTRO

Providence