Faster IS Better: Accelerating to Success Kay Teague And Michael Warren

Background Who we are:Tarleton State University Kay Teague:Instructor, Math Department; Freshman Math Coordinator from 2006 to 2013 Michael Warren:Freshman Math Coordinator (2013 – present) and Instructor, Math Department

Began in 2006, when Kay Teague was appointed Freshman Math Coordinator & given the mandate:“Improve our developmental math program.” At that time, there was no structure to how the department administered developmental math classes. Our Journey

Changes Implemented Continuing Enrollment Policy & Placement Curriculum Realignment GTA Support Standardization Technology

Changes Implemented (cont’d) Professional Development ◦Focus on student-centered classes and student engagement with class activities ◦Function-based approach to mathematics ◦Professional development opportunities to learn about these pedagogies and other best practices We could see positive changes, but we still weren’t seeing significant improvement in our students’ success in developmental math. I knew we could do better!

The ALP Connection Attendance at the 2010 ALP Conference in Baltimore Ideas began to form Spring 2011: meeting between department and Student Success resulted in 8-week course exploration New project for acceleration developed

Challenges for implementation: Faculty course load/credit hours for students Continuing Enrollment enforcement What to do with unsuccessful students Enrollment issues: how to get students enrolled in both courses, who could enroll, placement issues Who to teach, curriculum, and standardization of exams

Our new project – Fall 2011 Partnered 8-week classes: ◦Two 8-week course sequences: Math 100/101 and Math 101/107 ◦Classes meet every day – MWF for regular 50 min class, TR for regular 1 hr 15 min class ◦Students are required to enroll in BOTH, but if successful, earn 6 hours of credit in math; also, faculty teaching load was 6 hours ◦“Fall-back” for unsuccessful students ◦“Fall-back” for Math 100 was an independent-study, computer-based section that has used ALEKS, iLearn, and MyFoundationsLab

Math 100 Math 101 Math 100 (self-paced) Math 101 Math 107 Successfully completed – moves into next course Unsuccessful – must repeat course

Our Results:

Tarleton Pass Rates for Freshman Math Courses From Fall 2000 to present: Math 100:60.17%(C or better) Math 101:56.13%(C or better) Math 107:54.23%(C or better) 68.22%(D or better)

Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Total Math 100 (1 st 8- weeks) 91.30%71.43%75.76%79.17%87.74%74.07%82.11% Math 101 (1 st 8- weeks) 85.07%73.08%78.41%83.72%79.46%71.05%78.47% Math 101 (2 nd 8- weeks) 70.42%55.56%84.13%80.00%75.58%61.54%72.47% Math 107 (C or better) 65.52%86.84%82.86%71.43%78.13%66.67%75.58% Math 107 (D or better) 84.48%92.11%87.14%91.43%90.63%78.33%87.40% Tarleton Accelerated Math Program Pass Rates

From Fall 2011 to present: Math 100 (1 st 8-wks):82.11%(C or better) Math 101 (1 st 8-wks):78.47%(C or better) Math 101 (2 nd 8-wks):72.47%(C or better) Math 107 (2 nd 8-wks):75.58%(C or better) 87.40%(D or better)

Completion of core within one, two, or three years:

Completion of core within one or two years:

Attrition rates after one year: Year Number needing DE in math returning the following fall Percent needing DE in math returning the following fall of % of % of % of % of 16478% of 15779%

Challenges To Overcome: Second 8-week course performance is poorer – attendance and homework completion are more of a problem. Math 100 repeaters are not very successful. Enrollment management is a huge challenge!!! Students unsuccessful in the first 8-week course do not always follow through to re- enroll for the second 8-weeks.

Conclusions: Our 8-week course-pairings are showing remarkable results in improving student success and core completion. We started with excellent full-time faculty teaching these sequences; in the last two semesters, only a couple of full-time faculty have taught these sections. To date, 293 of 435 students (67.36%) who started in Math 101 successfully completed Math 107 in one semester. Our 8-week program works!

Questions? Answers? Comments? Suggestions?

THANK YOU FOR COMING!!! Please feel free to contact us: Kay Teague – Instructor, Math Department Michael Warren – Freshman Math Coordinator & Instructor Box T-0470 Tarleton State University Stephenville, TX 76402