High DFU Rate in CHEM 100: Factors and Solutions RAVI ABROL DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

What are some of the underlying factors behind high DFU rate in CHEM 100? What interventions inside or outside of class are effective in reducing the DFU rate and Achievement gap in CHEM 100? Guiding Questions

Data for 3959 First-Time-Freshmen Students admitted between years 2008-2011, who took CHEM 100 CHEM 100 Grade Ethnicity PELL status Gender High School GPA SAT Math SAT Verbal Parent Education Level Peer Learning Facilitator Section Data by Dr. Dorothy Nguyen-Graff from Chemistry for 6087 First-Time- Freshmen Students admitted between years 2008-2017, who took CHEM 100 PLF Section PELL Status Math Proficiency? Open-ended assessment class intervention data by Dr. Li Ye from Chemistry. Overview of Data

CHEM 100 Grade correlates: positively with being in PLF sections, High School GPA, SAT Scores, Parent Education Level, and Math proficiency. negatively with Under-Represented Minority status and PELL Grant status. PLF sections (logistics managed by Dr. Dorothy Nguyen-Graff in Chemistry) have a 50% lower DFU rate and a 50% higher Pass rate (C or better) than non-PLF CHEM 100 sections. Mean CHEM 100 grade in PLF sections is: 2.3 and in non-PLF sections is: 1.5. Findings Open-ended assessments run by Dr. Li Ye in Chemistry are showing strong promise in reducing achievement gaps.

Peer Learning Facilitator (PLF) sections have been shown to dramatically reduce DFU rates in CHEM 100 by up to 50% and increase Pass rate (C or better) by up to 50%. Open-ended assessments are showing promise in reducing achievement gaps in first-generation traditionally underserved students. Next step is to figure out, what it will take to implement PLFs across all sections in CHEM 100, in terms of resources and uniformity of adoption in all sections. Concluding thoughts