Other problems identified at the summit are:

* Some classroom teachers lack of deep content knowledge in math, which makes it impossible for them to help their students reach the higher standards now required.

* Many schools continue to “track” students, preventing many from taking the higher level algebra, geometry and calculus courses demanded by colleges and the work force.

* Students are too dependent on calculators and lack the ability to perform high level work on their own.

* Teachers are struggling to “differentiate instruction” so they can reach non-traditional learners, special education students and others who find math challenging.

“The two most important areas are teachers figuring out what is happening with their students during instruction, and the depth of their own content knowledge,” said Diane Schaefer, director of instruction at the Rhode Island Department of Education.

Carcieri and McWalters emphasized that many states face a similar challenge. Rhode Island developed the new test, called the New England Common Assessment Program, with New Hampshire and Vermont, states that generally score higher than Rhode Island and have fewer diverse students living in poverty. Yet their scores were also low: 27 percent of juniors scored proficient in New Hampshire and 30 percent in Vermont.

“You were not brought here to be reprimanded,” McWalters told the teachers and administrators who came from 31 of the state’s 36 districts and some charter and state run schools, as well as representatives from all the state’s public and private colleges.

Representatives from Burrillville, Foster-Glocester, Glocester, North Smithfield and Westerly did not attend, in some cases due to scheduling conflicts.

“This is a national problem,” McWalters said.

The United States does not score among the top nations by international math measures, either. Instead, U.S. students lag behind students in Asia and Europe, including countries such as Latvia, Russia and Hungary.

Educators who attended the summit said building relationships across districts and education levels -- elementary, middle and high school and at the college level -- will help them figure out how to solve the problems in math education.

“I’ve found that there has been an increase in deficits in students’ ability to think mathematically,” said Anne Veeger, chair of the geosciences department at the University of Rhode Island. “If you take the calculators away, the mental strategies at their disposal don’t seem as strong. They also want the answers to come to them easily and quickly and they get frustrated if they have to work through multiple strategies to get the answers.”

Stacy Simmons, math coordinator for Riverside Middle School in East Providence, said the summit has given her ideas about how to improve her own math instruction.

“I’m thinking about myself, as a teacher, how I know what the students know and when to move on and when to slow down,” Simmons said.