There are many specific skills and competencies that young people will need to succeed in college and the workplace, but more than particular skills, they will need the cognitive capacity to educate themselves throughout their entire lives. Young people need the ability for complex reasoning and the self-confidence to apply it in new situations. These are precisely the skills that are developed in higher-level mathematics courses, beginning with the foundational Algebra I and extending beyond Algebra II, in which students begin to use abstract reasoning to solve complex problems. The Building Blocks of Success: Higher-Level Math for All Students explores the intellectual and practical benefits to all students of taking higher-level mathematics courses during high school, focusing on college access and success, workplace- and career-readiness, and personal and U.S. competitiveness. Download the PDF. (May 2008)