ALEKS Placement and Emporium at Kent State University University of Delaware Andrew Tonge

Remedial Student Prognosis 3 of every 4 will not earn any degree after 6 years 1 in 8 will earn an associate’s degree or certificate 1 in 8 will earn a bachelors degree

Placement History Standard placement tools (ACT/SAT or Compass/Accuplacer) unreliable at KSU High school GPA more reliable than any of these State implementing a 22 ACT cut for college level courses Our data do not support these as reliable cuts

ACT Math Data (National)

ACT scores course by course

ACT scores course by course

Accuracy and Effectiveness of ALEKS Placement into Remedial Courses Remedial courses give accuracy check of ALEKS placement Relationship between placement score and initial knowledge Remedial courses provide effectiveness check of ALEKS placement Relationship between placement score and final knowledge assessed through comprehensive assessment

Initial Knowledge – Intermediate Algebra

Accuracy of ALEKS Placement into College Level Courses Too early for reliable quantitative data on placement accuracy into college level courses Instructors report that students are better prepared Instructors report that grades on common comprehensive finals are improved Academic Success Center reports that remedial path students now do as well as direct entry students

Remedial ABC Rates

Remedial ABC rates – New Freshmen

Structure Students work in a “one-room schoolhouse” setting, with up to 240 students in up to four courses (Basic Algebra I, II, III, IV) coordinated by a single full-time instructor of record Each instructor of record is assisted by up to 8 assistants (full-time instructors, graduate students, or peer tutors) All courses are 2 credit courses meeting the equivalent of 4 times a week (50 minute periods) for 7.5 weeks Students are assigned to the Emporium for a total of 200 minutes per week, and are encouraged to attend the Emporium at other times or to work from any convenient location The Emporium is open and staffed from early morning through evening on weekdays and is also open at weekends

Course Structure Student grades are essentially determined by the percentage of topics shown to be mastered on a comprehensive final assessment Students take a comprehensive initial assessment, and then they begin to fill their pie, selecting from topics ALEKS judges they are ready to learn with a high probability of success ALEKS generally judges a topic as provisionally mastered when 3 consecutive problems have been correctly solved. Help is available through ALEKS, through a linked e-book, and on request from an instructor or assistant (average response time less than 20 seconds) When students have spent 5 hours in ALEKS and learned 20 topics, a progress assessment judges whether students can still correctly solve problems on the provisionally mastered topics, and topics that are still retained are added to the permanent pie. Students must relearn topics they have trouble with.

Course Structure Progress assessments can be taken either in the Emporium or at home Two midterm assessments are scheduled in the Emporium as reality checks; these have shown the vast majority of students have not cheated on regular progress assessments If the student fills his or her pie before the end of the time allotted to the course, the final assessment can be taken early and the student can progress immediately to the next course About 5% of students finish their first course early; many diligent students go on to complete 3 or even 4 half-semester courses in a single semester Students who do not finish early must score at least 73% on the comprehensive final assessment to proceed to the next course To encourage consistent studying, points are awarded for regular attendance, regular work outside of class, and for making good progress on the midterm assessments These points have minimal effect on the grade and are forfeited if students score below 73% on the final Students may repeat the final

Outcome summary for remedial courses Course completion improved ABC rates significantly improved Sequence completion improved 61% of students successfully completed the remedial sequence in 2011-2012 24% improvement on the previous year Instructional costs reduced Reduction of about $250K in annual instructor costs

Outcome summary for college level courses Students taking a college level course after completing their Math Emporium sequence Performed as well as students placing directly into these courses Students taking a college level course after completing a traditional remedial sequence Performed worse than students placing directly into these courses