US maths coaching to be outsourced to India

The Wall Street Journal reports that online mathematics education is the next in line to be outsourced to India in the US.

Two reasons are given for this latest trend. The first is U.S students rank poorly in maths compared to other countries. American 15-year-olds ranked 24th among 29 industrialized countries in a study of maths skills released last year by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

A teacher shortage in the U.S. has resulted in nearly 40 per cent of US high schools reporting difficulty filling maths openings this year with qualified instructors.

One of the companies involved will be Career Launcher who have taught about 800 US students online in the past ten months.