Giving Multiple Measures Students a Fast Start Brigette myers Stanly Community College, Albemarle, NC Thursday, March 9, 2017 (2:00-2:45 pm)

The Placement Policy Multiple Measures Placement Policy was implemented by the NC Community College System. Colleges could implement beginning Fall 2013, with a required implementation date of Fall 2016. High school graduates from the previous five years are considered “college-ready” if they have an unweighted high school GPA of 2.6 and have completed 4 high school math courses. These students are exempt from diagnostic placement testing and are placed directly into gateway math and English courses. SCC implemented student placement according to the Multiple Measures Placement Policy in Fall 2013

SCC Pre-Intervention Data Gateway MAT courses Success rates for math courses. This data includes 4 gateway math courses. During this time period, the NC Community College system was undergoing a system- wide MathCIP. Many courses were archived and a Quantitative Literacy course was added to the curriculum. SP14 = Spring semester 2014 FA14=Fall semester 2014

The Study In Summer 2014 we were contacted by Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC) about participating in a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation study that assisted students with a high school GPA of 2.6 to 3.0 who fell into North Carolina’s new Multiple Measures of Placement policy. The study sought to boost the performance of these students through an intervention. Participants in this ongoing study also include: Central Piedmont, Davidson County, Gaston College, Guildford Tech and Wake Tech. We are smallest school participating in the study.

About Us - SCC Smaller college Large online student population 3,700 Annual Curriculum Unduplicated Headcount Large online student population  Approximately 65% of students take at least one online course One main campus and one satellite campus Rural Area Very few traditional courses. Majority of courses are 100% online or contain some type of online component. Located about an hour from Charlotte, NC

Our Target Population - SCC Our target student will be one with a high school GPA of 2.6 to 3.0. Student covered by NC’s Multiple Measures policy. SCC has a small number of target students Our average number of target students in each gateway course (Spring 2016/Fall 2016): 8 students in MAT-143 Quantitative Literacy 9 students in MAT-152 Statistical Methods I 6 students in MAT-171 Precalculus Algebra

Why We Chose the Module - SCC Cost effective for students and the college Because of the small target population, we realized that all students in the gateway course could benefit from the review We didn’t want to stigmatize the target students Our total students who could benefit (from Spring 2016 – Fall 2016): Course Average # of Students per semester Average # of Target Students per semester MAT 143 Quantitative Literacy 106 8 MAT 152 Statitiscal Methods I 84 9 MAT 171 Precalculus 72 6

How We Built the Modules The developmental instructor and the curriculum instructor worked together to build the modules. The content was based on our developmental courses and was built with the cooperation of both developmental and curriculum course instructors: DMA 010: Operations with Integers DMA 020: Fractions, Decimals & Scientific Notation DMA 030: Conversions & Percent DMA 040: Linear Equations, Inequalities, & Formulas DMA 050: Graphs & Equations of Lines DMA 060: Exponents, Factoring, & Quadratic Equations Used MyMathLab and pulled the material and problems from Elayn Martin-Gay’s Developmental Math text

Design Philosophy The module was built so that all students in the gateway courses could complete it within a reasonable time. The module could be completed within first two weeks of each course. Students would receive focused attention on the areas of math with which they need the most help. We used Pearson’s MyLabs Plus Math. 16 week courses complete in first 2 weeks. 12 week courses complete in first week.

How We Motivate Students The module counts as a quiz grade in their course. We used a racing theme. 94% of students complete the module each semester.

Let’s Go Racing Module Broken into 3 parts: (Pretest) Wanted to have a catchy title to entice students to begin working and to be able to “sell” it to the students. Didn’t want to use terms with negative connotations: remediation, developmental, pretest, post test. (Pretest) (Remedial Practice) (Posttest)

2-hour time limit with one attempt 25 questions 2-hour time limit with one attempt Must be completed in one sitting Announcements posted in online courses and instructors announce in hybrid courses. Quick quiz to make sure that you are prepared for the course. We encourage students to log into the course and get started! This is not a quiz that they need to study for.

Each student must complete exercises that deal with the precise issues they had from the pretest/Start Your Engines. This is an opportunity for students to brush up on any concepts that they may have missed or forgotten on the Start Your Engines quiz. Along with practice homework problems, the students also have access to “Review Sheets” for each Pit Stop that contains notes, formulas, reminders on the Pit Stop topic. These review sheets are housed in Moodle. Within MyLabs Plus, they have the “helpful buttons” on the side to get assistance on individual problems.

The questions are conceptually the same as “Start Your Engines” quiz. 2-hour time limit with one attempt. Must be completed in one sitting. This gives students a second chance to prove they are prepared for the gateway math course. Instructors contact students individually who still perform poorly to suggest tutoring and to explain that this module was pre-requisite material. The instructors also utilize an early alert system at the college where a coach also contacts the student to suggest available resources. The module materials are accessible to the student the entire semester, so instructors often refer students back to the pit stops for more practice throughout the semester.

How We Deploy the Module Hybrid MAT courses – Instructor takes laptops to class on Day 2 and helps students get logged in and start module. Online MAT courses – Instructor sends emails, texts, posts announcements in Moodle.

Implementation Timeline Fall 2013– Early implementation of North Carolina’s MM policy Summer 2014 – Contacted by GTCC about being a part of a sub grant for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Fall 2014– Developed our remediation modules. Spring 2015 – Deployed MM module in MAT 171 and ENG 111 Summer 2015 – Implemented MM module in MAT 152 and 143 (no MM students enrolled in the courses)

Success Rates MAT 143 Module implemented Summer 2015 No MM students enrolled in Summer 2015 MAT 140 was also offered Fall 2014, Spring 2015 and Summer 2015. So, low enrollment in MAT 143.

Success Rates MAT 152 Module implemented Summer 2015 but no MM students enrolled. MAT 155 was also offered Spring and Summer 2015, so enrollment in MAT 152 was affected.

Student Comments “I believe the pit stops were a good use of my time. It helped trigger some of the things I had been taught in High School and had forgotten.” “I think it [Start Your Engines Quiz] is a great way to show how prepared a student is for the course.” “The Pit Stops were very helpful in making sure each student covers what they’ve missed in order to succeed in the class without going over what they already know in order to make the most of their time.” "The Pit Stops helped me to refresh my memory and review what I already know." "The whole module helped me to understand the course expectations so that I knew what I need to work on in math." "[The review] helped with my confidence." Survey sent to students via email a couple weeks after the module is completed. Coffey Consulting has also done a review of our materials as part of the sub grant. They have collected both qualitative and quantitative data to be used in a follow-up report.

Questions?

Contact Information Stanly Community College, Albemarle, NC https://www.stanly.edu/multiple_measures_booklet.pdf Brigette Myers: bmyers7799@stanly.edu