Pedal to the Metal: Accelerating Developmental Math Students Lori Austin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Raritan Valley Community College Branchburg, NJ

Acceleration in Developmental Courses Can students, whose placement test scores fall within ten points of “College Ready”, be accelerated through the current developmental process into college level courses?

Current Research on Why Students Should be Accelerated Fewer exit points Allows under placed students quicker access to college level courses

Assessed Acceleration Models Compression Model Community College of Denver – FastStart Program Mainstream Model Community College of Baltimore County – Accelerated Learning Program CUNY Assessment of different models across six institutions within CUNY

Why Acceleration at RVCC ATD Department resistance NJ Student Success Summit Peter Adams Uri Treisman Collaboration NJ Decision Zone

Current Course Sequence at RVCC Non – STEM Students Basic Math (4NC) Elementary Algebra (4NC) College level Liberal Arts math course (3C) Number Systems Quantitative Reasoning Problem Solving Finite Math STEM Students Basic Math (4NC) Elementary Algebra (4NC) Intermediate Algebra (4NC) College Level Math Precalculus I (3C + 1 Lab Credit) Statistics I (3C)

Who Should be Accelerated Current Cutoff Score on Accuplacer Need 76 on Algebra Portion of Accuplacer to test out of Elementary Algebra Current NJ “Decision Zone” Initiative Students who place in the upper range of the Elementary Algebra placement, 63 – 76 should be considered to move up based on other criteria – last math course taken, high school GPA, ect. RVCC decided to accelerate all students in Decision Zone

Two Models Non-STEM Students Combine non-credit developmental Elementary Algebra with the credit course Number Systems Basic Math (4NC) Elementary Algebra (4NC) College level Liberal Arts math course (3C) Number Systems Quantitative Reasoning Problem Solving Finite Math STEM Students Combine two developmental courses: Elementary Algebra and Intermediate Algebra Basic Math (4NC) Elementary Algebra (4NC) Intermediate Algebra (4NC) College Level Math Precalculus I (3C + 1 Lab Credit) Statistics I (3C)

Non-STEM Students Students who place in “Decision Zone” Students whose major requires 3 credits of a Liberal Arts math course satisfied by Math 101 Number Systems Students can enroll in any section of Number Systems Students must then enroll in MATH 020N Algebra Topics for Numbers Systems, a co-requisite to Number Systems 1 credit course that reviews relevant algebra topics that align with topics in Number Systems

STEM Students Students who place in the “Decision Zone” Students whose major require Precalculus or Statistics Students can enroll in Intermediate Algebra w/Review 6 credit course – meets for two hours three days a week Follows outline of Intermediate Algebra with additional time spent reviewing Elementary Algebra content

Non-STEM Results for Algebra Topics for Number Systems Fall 2013 – Spring students attempt Pass rates: Fall 71.7 %, Spring 66.7% Compared to all students in Number Systems: Fall 73.6%, Spring 72.1%

STEM Results for Intermediate Algebra w/Review Fall 2013-Spring students attempt Intermediate Algebra w/Review Pass rates: Fall 25.4%, Spring 27.6% Pass rates for all Intermediate Algebra: Fall 46.6%, Spring 38.6%

How does this compare to student success prior to Accelerated courses?

“Decision Zone” Students Prior to Acceleration Fall students place in Decision Zone, 113 students enrolled in Elementary Algebra during Fall 2012 semester Pass Rate for Elementary Algebra: Pass 59.3% (67 out of 113) Pass Rate for EA students who continued into Intermediate Algebra:56.5% 13 out of 23 Pass Rate for EA students who continued into Number Systems: 80% 12 out students who passed EA in Fall did not take the next math class

Percent of Decision Zone Students who were able to complete 1 Level beyond Elementary Algebra in one year. Fall 2012/Spring 2013 without Accelerated courses - 23% 26 students Fall 2013/Spring 2014 with Accelerated courses - 43% 62 students

References Cho, S-W., Kopka, E., Jenkins, D., & Jaggers, S. S. (2012) New evidence on the success for community college remedial English students: Tracking the outcomes of students in the Accelerated Learning Program (CCRC Working Paper #53). New York, NY: Columbia University, Teachers College, CCRC. Edgecomb, N., Jaggers, S. S., Baker, E. D., & Bailey, T. (2013) Acceleration through a holistic support model: An implementation and analysis of New York, NY:Columbis University, Teachers College, CCRC Hodara, M., & Jaggers, S.S (2014). An examination of the impact of accelerating student’s progress through developmental education. Journal of Higher Education 85 (2)