1. Maryland Mathematics Reform Initiative
A pragmatic approach to reducing remediation
Nancy S. Shapiro
Associate Vice Chancellor
January18, 2017

2. What problem are we trying to solve in Maryland?
Intermediate Algebra is the “graveyard” for non-STEM majors
Approximately 71% of Maryland’s community college students test into developmental math courses
Existing regulations drove community college students toward math courses that did not align with the requirements of their majors and resulted in high failure and drop-out rates
USM institutions had multiple mathematics pathways, but community colleges did not
Inefficient Transfer from community college to 4-year institutions
Anthony Bryk, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has said, “Developmental mathematics courses represent a graveyard of dreams and aspirations”
What is Developmental math? It is Algebra II—the content and standards of Common Core, PARCC 4 or 5, Bridge Courses.
Critical importance to USM institutions because: Half of our students come from CC’s we need to make sure the transfer is seamless.
Old: One course in mathematics at or above the level of college algebra
New: One course in mathematics, having performance expectations demonstrating a level of mathematical maturity beyond the Maryland College and Career Ready Standards in Mathematics (including problem-solving skills, and mathematical concepts and techniques that can be applied in the student’s program of study).

3. Maryland and Wisconsin Share Same Goals
Reduce the number of students taking remedial math
Increase the percentage of students who successfully complete remedial math within their first year of college
Increase the percentage of first year freshmen who successfully complete a math course that fulfills a general education requirement in their first year
Develop math pathways to place students in more appropriate courses for their educational goals and for success in their degree program area
Provide better advising for incoming freshmen to support goals 1-4

4. Cost of Remedial Education
College and Career—Are Maryland Students Ready (Maryland Department of Legislative Services February 2015)
Community Colleges: $7000/student (for a total of $75.3 Million)
USM: $9000/student (for a total of $14.0 Million)
Finally, at the request of the General Assembly, MHEC conducted a cost study of remedial education in fiscal That report found community colleges spend over $7,000 per remedial student for a total of $75.3 million. The State directly supports remedial courses taken at the community colleges through the statutory funding formulas. Meanwhile, University System of Maryland (USM) institutions spent over $9,000 per student for a total of $14.0 million on remedial education. There was considerable disagreement as to the appropriate methodology for costing out developmental education between MHEC and the institutions. Morgan State University (MSU), for example, used its own method to estimate it spent almost $16,000 per remedial student.
Source (College and Career – Are Maryland Students Ready? Prepared by the Maryland Department of Legislative Services, February 2015)
So if nothing else, this project can be seen as a hi leverage E&E initiative

5. New General Education Language
Old Language
One course in mathematics at or above the level of college algebra
New Language
One course in mathematics, having performance expectations demonstrating a level of mathematical maturity beyond the Maryland College and Career Ready Standards in Mathematics (including problem-solving skills, and mathematical concepts and techniques that can be applied in the student’s program of study).
Allows us to build on strands within the high school mathematics core
Expand students mathematics background related to career and long term goals

6. Achieving Buy-In For Policy Changes
Leadership From The Top
Intersegmental Chief Academic Officers
MMRI Steering Committee
Engaging Faculty
Statewide Mathematics Group
MMRI Workgroup
Campus-level committees and task forces
Need to Explain what this is important to how things will happen on the campus… policy and practice are connected.
Code of Maryland Regulations requirement that all general education courses must be accepted in transfer by a receiving institution, the work of this Group will enable that general education courses accepted in transfer will meet similar basic standards, outcomes, and goals, without dictating any standard curriculum for any course.

7. MMRI Logic Model 60 Sections 959 Students
Here is how the theory is intended to play out in practice.
Key elements of a project like this:
We have a problem to solve—we create a “logic model”
Start with outcomes: We want more students to pass developmental math and move into college level math, and pass that course
We want to introduce new approaches to teaching and supporting students, with new pathways and redesigned courses.
But we need everyone on the train together so they will accept the credits and verify that the courses are equally rigorous.
Long term outcomes: Students are quantitatively literate graduates, can use mathematics in their careers, they complete degrees
So—how do we do it?
You’ll remember the MSP presentation—we had a logic model for that project also—you saw the end result.
To get there, we need to draw on inputs—we need to plan activities, and we need to measure the progress (outputs)

8. Maryland FITW Research Design
FALL Course
SPRING Course
Treatment Group
New Developmental Pathway Course
1 or 2 levels below
Students -
1 or 2 levels below college level math
Control Group 1:
Intermediate Algebra
1 level below
college math
Gen. Ed. Statistics
Students who enter 1 or 2 levels below the college level class can take the new developmental pathway course.
Success in general education statistics will be compared among 3 groups of students.
1) Students who pass the new pathways course.
2) Students who pass intermediate algebra.
3) Students who placed directly into statistics.
Research Questions:
Persistence rate for those in pathway course compared to control groups
Enrollment rate and success in statistics within one year for each cohort
Retention rates in college at the end of 3 years (Spring 2019) for each cohort
Control Group 2:
Elementary Algebra
2 levels below

9. New Statistics Pathways Launch
Timeline
Fall 15
Project Begins;
Planning & Kickoff Events
Jan 16
Course Outcomes Defined
Spring-Summer 16
Development of curriculum and placement, advising, & registration processes
Fall 16
Spring 17
New Statistics Pathways Launch
Pilot Cohort Enrolled
Fall 17 – Spring 18
Evaluation Cohort Enrolled
Fall 17-
Spring 20
Data Collection, Analysis, Dissemination
As soon as we got the grant, we invited others to join—with the understanding that we couldn’t financially support them, but we could build the transformational learning community with them
December: Kickoff Project - Workshop and team meeting
January: Review of Developmental Statistics Course Outcomes
February: Faculty workshop on curriculum and course materials; Workshop for advising and placement staff on marketing and recruitment
March: Uri Treisman visits campuses
April: Consultation from Dana Center; Webinars on Transfer and Advising
May: Office Hours and Technical Assistance from Dana Center
June: Project-wide workshop and team meeting
July-August: Summer Work on Campuses
September: Math Anxiety Webinar; Launch first set of new courses
October 2015 – Project Selected for Funding and Launch
December 2015–July 2016
Determine placement and advising strategies and basic course outline
Determine data sharing processes; gain IRB approvals
Professional Development for Advisors and Registrars
Design and development pathway course
Recruit students for study
Fall – Launch developmental Pathways course
2016–2019 – Data collection, analysis and report on findings
2018–2019 – Dissemination and scaling to other Maryland public institutions

10. Course Descriptions Statistics
Course outline builds on statistics strand within the high school core curriculum
Designed to prepare students for follow-up courses within their majors

11. Liberal Arts Mathematics (“Topics for Mathematical Literacy”)
Course Descriptions
Liberal Arts Mathematics (“Topics for Mathematical Literacy”)
Focus on mathematical needs in the future & connections to some liberal arts majors
Growth models
Financial skills
Applying logic
Interpreting probability of events
Statistical reasoning
Connections to art and/or music

12. Engaging Student Advising Community
Quality advising is an essential element of successful institutional plans and practice.
What are the most effective methods of reaching out to student advising departments?
What are the greatest challenges with sustaining relationships?
Quality advising is an essential element of successful institutional plans and practice.
--One areas that MMRI institutions say they find most challenging.
--advisors need to know why the new pathway(s) are developed and why it is important for students to be advised into the new pathway---otherwise, they will continue to advise students into the wrong mathematics courses.
What are the most effective methods of reaching out to student advising departments?
--need to find a way to make advisors feel that they are part of the process and not an afterthought. Get their ideas about implementation and communicating with students.
What are the greatest challenges with sustaining relationships?
---turnover on campus—people come and go
---some large campuses have many layers of administration so it can be challenging to figure out who should be the point person.
---lines of communication might be tense because of past interactions, history, and experiences.

13. Challenges and Next Steps
Will we have enough students enrolled in the experimental sections for a robust study?
What is the best way to ensure that the experimental sections of the courses are measuring common outcomes?
What do we need to do to ensure that the new courses transfer seamlessly?
Can we improve the way we gather data, including qualitative information to monitor the progress of the project and the students?
What happens to students who start down non-stem pathway and decide to change majors to STEM?
Who decides if the Statistics courses and Quantitative Literacy courses cover the minimal mathematical concepts and skills necessary for civic participation?
How should the academic community respond to the push for common course numbering, when the goals is common course outcomes?

14. A role play exercise Adapted from Frank Savina’s presentation to the Maryland FITW-MMRI Team on January 11, 2017

15. What is the “right math”?
Burdman, P. (2015). Degrees of freedom: Diversifying math requirements for college readiness and graduation. Oakland CA: Learning Works and Policy Analysis for California Education.

16. Professional associations of mathematics say…
MAA (2015). Common Vision for Undergraduate Mathematical Science Programs in 2025
Faculty in disciplines outside mathematics rarely ask their students to find the equation of the line that passes through two given points. But social scientists, for example, will expect students to recognize a linear pattern in a set of data, interpret the parameters of the line of best fit, and use the equation of the line to answer questions in the context of a real-world scenario. Mathematical sciences departments should be aware of applications used in other disciplines and adjust their general education and introductory courses accordingly (p. 21)
Read and reflect on your experiences. What do you think about his statement as a teacher, administrator, advisor or student?
This document might be helpful to have multi-disciplinary discussions at individual institutions.
Mathematicians think partner disciplines want algorithms. Not the case. It’s about conceptual understanding.---precise and logical thinking
Problem solving skills is about the ability to tackle non-routine, non-familiar problems.
Emphasize modeling through student projects that are engaging, meaningful, and relevant to student
learning and interests
DESCRPTION of research:” Given the impact of mathematics instruction on so many other fields of study—especially instruction during the first two years—there is a need for significant input from the partner disciplines when designing the undergraduate mathematics curriculum. An unprecedented amount of information on the mathematical needs of partner disciplines has been gathered through a series of disciplinary-based workshops known as the Curriculum Foundations Project.
Workshop participants from the partner disciplines were extremely grateful—and surprised—to be invited by mathematicians to state their views about the mathematics curriculum. That the opinions of the partner disciplines were considered important and would be taken seriously in the development of the CUPM Guide 2004 only added to their enthusiasm for the project as well as their interest in continuing conversations with the mathematics community.”
DETAILS:
Emphasize conceptual understanding.
- Focus on understanding broad concepts and ideas in all mathematics courses during the first two years.
- Emphasize development of precise, logical thinking. Require students to reason deductively from a set of assumptions to a valid conclusion.
- Present formal proofs only when they enhance understanding. Use informal arguments and wellchosen examples to illustrate mathematical structure.
Emphasize problem solving skills.
- Develop the fundamental computational skills the partner disciplines require, but emphasize integrative skills: the ability to apply a variety of approaches to single problems, to apply familiar techniques in novel settings, and to devise multi-stage approaches in complex situations.
Emphasize mathematical modeling.
- Expect students to create, solve, and interpret mathematical models.
- Provide opportunities for students to describe their results in several ways: analytically, graphically, numerically, and verbally.
- Use models from the partner disciplines: students need to see mathematics in context.
Emphasize communication skills.
- Incorporate development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills into courses.
- Require students to explain mathematical concepts and logical arguments in words. Require them to explain the meaning — the hows and whys — of their results.
Emphasize balance between perspectives.
- Continuous and discrete
- Linear and nonlinear
- Deterministic and stochastic
- Deductive and inductive
- Exact and approximate
- Pure and applied
- Local and global
- Quantitative and qualitative

17. Professional associations of mathematics say…
MAA (2004).The Curriculum Foundations Project: Voices of Partner Disciplines.
Emphasize conceptual understanding.
Emphasize problem solving skills.
Emphasize mathematical modeling.
Emphasize communication skills.
Emphasize balance between perspectives.
This document might be helpful to have multi-disciplinary discussions at individual institutions.
Mathematicians think partner disciplines want algorithms. Not the case. It’s about conceptual understanding.---precise and logical thinking
Problem solving skills is about the ability to tackle non-routine, non-familiar problems.
Emphasize modeling through student projects that are engaging, meaningful, and relevant to student
learning and interests
DESCRPTION of research:” Given the impact of mathematics instruction on so many other fields of study—especially instruction during the first two years—there is a need for significant input from the partner disciplines when designing the undergraduate mathematics curriculum. An unprecedented amount of information on the mathematical needs of partner disciplines has been gathered through a series of disciplinary-based workshops known as the Curriculum Foundations Project.
Workshop participants from the partner disciplines were extremely grateful—and surprised—to be invited by mathematicians to state their views about the mathematics curriculum. That the opinions of the partner disciplines were considered important and would be taken seriously in the development of the CUPM Guide 2004 only added to their enthusiasm for the project as well as their interest in continuing conversations with the mathematics community.”
DETAILS:
Emphasize conceptual understanding.
- Focus on understanding broad concepts and ideas in all mathematics courses during the first two years.
- Emphasize development of precise, logical thinking. Require students to reason deductively from a set of assumptions to a valid conclusion.
- Present formal proofs only when they enhance understanding. Use informal arguments and wellchosen examples to illustrate mathematical structure.
Emphasize problem solving skills.
- Develop the fundamental computational skills the partner disciplines require, but emphasize integrative skills: the ability to apply a variety of approaches to single problems, to apply familiar techniques in novel settings, and to devise multi-stage approaches in complex situations.
Emphasize mathematical modeling.
- Expect students to create, solve, and interpret mathematical models.
- Provide opportunities for students to describe their results in several ways: analytically, graphically, numerically, and verbally.
- Use models from the partner disciplines: students need to see mathematics in context.
Emphasize communication skills.
- Incorporate development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills into courses.
- Require students to explain mathematical concepts and logical arguments in words. Require them to explain the meaning — the hows and whys — of their results.
Emphasize balance between perspectives.
- Continuous and discrete
- Linear and nonlinear
- Deterministic and stochastic
- Deductive and inductive
- Exact and approximate
- Pure and applied
- Local and global
- Quantitative and qualitative

18. Maryland Mathematics Reform Initiative: A pragmatic approach to reducing remediation
Nancy S. Shapiro, Ph.D.