Success Stories

Students who have taken the new developmental pre-statistics course (MATH 037) were 12 percentage points more likely to succeed in Introduction to Statistics (STAT 200) in the Summer 2019 term than students who had not taken MATH 037.

This new pathway is showing promising results with 93% of students who earned a B or better in Quantitative Literacy in Fall 2018 successfully completing Introduction to Statistics for the Social Sciences in Spring 2019. Additionally, 81% of students who passed Quantitative Literacy in Fall 2018 successfully passed Introduction to Contemporary Mathematics in Spring 2019.

Students weighed in on the new courses:
“Although I am not a math major, the developmental mathematics course I took allowed me to understand that math functions in all disciplines, even in my English degree. I found the course workbooks and worksheets to be very helpful, particularly in the inviting language used to describe methods of solving questions and answers.”

Our successes have been in course development and the attention given to the statistics pathway by full-time faculty. We now have two new lecturers, one to coordinate each of the courses, “pre-stats” and our introductory statistics course. Our statistics course had not had a coordinator prior, and as a course taught almost exclusively by adjuncts, suffered from inattention and non-uniformity. Our current course is an excellent course, and we are making progress in ensuring that all instructors are teaching the course in ways that we believe engage students meaningfully. In addition, changes to our pathways have resulted in students taking more appropriate courses for their majors, e.g., psychology majors no longer have to take finite math before statistics

Garrett College has prioritized responding needs and made the strategic decision to hire a full-time developmental math faculty person to focus on the curriculum, course structure, transition to college level courses, and ultimately success in passing the college level math course.

From fall 2017 to fall 2018, 61% of Coppin State students who enrolled in the co-requisite basic statistics course earned a course grade of C or above. Those students benefited from being placed in an appropriate pathway and completed their mathematics GER requirement in only one semester. It took students two or three semesters in the traditional pathway, which includes Elementary Algebra, Intermediate Algebra and regular Basic Statistics courses.

Bradley Phillips, Director of Policy Analysis and Research for MACC (Maryland Association of Community Colleges), wrote his dissertation titled A Case Study on Redesigning Developmental Math and Implementing Math Pathways at Cecil College and documented our story with the FITW grant.

Approximately half of the students from the initial sections of the new Quantitative Foundations course in Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 were students who had formerly failed Intermediate Algebra and were thus not eligible for credit level mathematics. One of the most positive outcomes of participating in the FITW-MMRI project has been following this particular group of students as they succeeded in developmental math, moved forward to pass Statistics, and successfully completed an Associate’s degree and/or transferred to a four-year institution. Because of this program these students were not only retained, they were able to succeed.

At CSM, our plan was to revitalize the sections of developmental mathematics which lead to non-STEM degrees. Students who are in a non-STEM pathway are able to take their college level mathematics course, either Quantitative Literacy and Reasoning (MTH-1010) or Statistics (MTH-1015), after completing the singular developmental course, Mathematics Foundations (MTH-0940). Our team is starting to create our own materials for the 1010 course so that students can use OERs rather than purchase a textbook. A new co-requisite course was created, MTH-1010T, which is designed for students who would have placed into MTH-0940, but who will get supplemental remedial instruction in a “just in time” fashion. The 1010T will run for the first time in Spring 2020.

• 83% increase in enrollment in Mathematical Foundations (MATH-037) from AY16-17 through AY18-19
• ABC rates for the Mathematical Foundations course were 67% in AY 18-19.
• Enrollments in courses that follow the new Mathematical Foundations course have been increasing and this fall those courses saw a 42% and 34% increase in enrollments.
• For students who successfully completed Mathematical Foundations, success rates in the following courses were 69% and 66%.
• Success rates for gateway courses after taking Mathematical Foundations (MATH-037) are comparable to success rates for students who had taken Intermediate Algebra (MATH-070), and these success rates represent the shortened pathway.
• Following the success of the Mathematical Foundations pathway, HCC has decided to launch a second pathway for students in STEM. This involved developing a co-requisite model for Intermediate Algebra with Pre-Calculus I and then following that with a Pre-Calculus II course in the winter or summer. This new pathway is being developed using Open Education Resources.