Developmental Math Program Recommendations

George Alexander

Developmental Math Coordinator

UW Colleges

February 28, 2000

On April 24, 1999, the Math Department's Curriculum Committee made five recommendations concerning developmental mathematics. At that time, a motion was made and passed to defer any action until later, with the intention that the Developmental Math Coordinator would raise these issues as appropriate. These recommendations were:

a) All campuses should offer Mat 091 for 4 credits.

b) All campuses should offer Mat 081, 090, and 091 (but not necessarily each year).

c) Enrollment in the developmental math classes should be limited to 25 students.

d) The sequence of courses should be Mat 090, 081, 091, and 105.

e) An additional test should be developed to determine placement into either Mat 090, 091, or 105.

During the fall semester, I made visits to each of the thirteen campuses of the UW Colleges, and I met with department faculty, instructional academic staff, noninstructional support staff, deans and student services directors. I also studied data on student backgrounds and math course grades over a five year period (academic years 1996 to 1999). Collectively, these efforts have helped me to put together a more complete picture of the developmental math program in the UW Colleges. I feel that I am now ready to comment on recommendations for improvement of the developmental math program. My recommendations incorporate most of the above suggestions, but I think that we should be looking towards even bigger changes. To make these changes effective and attractive, we need to offer more to the students and more to the UW Colleges.

For each recommendation, I have included some ideas for implementation. Further details will need to be filled in if we decide to move ahead with these ideas. I have also included a description of how to measure the effectiveness of the overall program. I think that it is critical that assessment efforts accompany these recommendations so that we have a sense of accountability. Assessment will also help us adjust our efforts, as necessary, in the future because we will have consistent benchmarks for making comparisons. I do not view any of these proposed changes as fixed; we must be prepared to refine our program to meet changing needs, respond to new information, and build on our own successes.

Observations

There are many things we are currently doing well. Our successful Mat 091 students perform at least as well as other students once they enroll in Mat 105. Successful developmental math students see significantly higher cumulative grade point averages; this suggests that we have given them useful skills for success in all of their college credit courses, not just in further math courses.

The students in Mat 081 and 091 have similar ethnic backgrounds to the whole student body. There is a slightly higher percentage of minority students in Mat 090 (10% instead of 6%). Mat 091 students are similar in age to the whole student population, but there are more nontraditional students in Mat 081 and Mat 090. The portion of nontraditional students in Mat 091 and in the general student populations runs about 25% (age 25 and older). In Mat 090 this is 34%, and in Mat 081 it is 36%. I think it is critical to note here that the developmental math program is important in serving the nontraditional student population. The UW System, and the UW Colleges in particular, are currently working on increasing and improving service to the adult learners in our communities. Our efforts to build a better developmental math program will have a positive effect on the institution's efforts to attract and retain nontraditional students.

Although successful developmental math students continue on with success in Mat 105 and other credit courses, there is still a substantial portion of students who struggle in Mat 091. We need to offer a complete program so that all students have a decent chance for success. This would include Mat 090, an arithmetic and/or pre-algebra course.

Students are reluctant to take non-degree credit courses. Even after enrolling, many students have low motivation to work in these courses because they know the grade will not affect their grade point averages. We see from course data, however, that students who earn a C in Mat 091 are less likely to be successful in Mat 105 than those who earned A's or B's. We need to tailor a more attractive program that will meet the students' needs in an efficient manner, and we need to sell the program's advantages to prospective students. We all know that proper placement and preparation will make a difference in the credit courses, but this is not necessarily so obvious to the students who need it.

Program needs

At the Developmental Math Conference at UW Fox Valley on January 12, 2000, I listed the top program concerns (from my campus visits with staff and students). These were:

a) The delivery of Mat 090 and 081 with low enrollments,

b) The motivation of students in non-degree credit courses,

c) Class sizes,

d) High attrition rates in math courses,

e) The accuracy of math placements,

f) The need for better staffing and equipment in tutorial labs, and

g) The need for tutor training.

My recommendations in the next section detail a plan for making improvements in all of these areas. Most of the suggestions will depend upon the others for success in making a difference for our developmental math students. With each recommendation, I will give some idea of how we can go about implementing the changes.

Recommendations

1) Offer a full developmental math program on each campus. A program should consist of a full line of course offerings (Mat 090, 081, and 091) as well as professional support staff. Mat 091 or equivalent is offered on all of our campuses on a regular basis already, but we should find ways to offer students the rest of the program when needed. One year of high school geometry is required of incoming students, but students are often admitted provisionally without having satisfied this requirement. In order to move students towards degree completion or transfer to other UW System institutions with similar admission requirements, we should take responsibility for making Mat 081 available on all campuses. We are also seeing many students who are underprepared even for Mat 091, and offering Mat 090 would help to bridge this gap. By offering a full array of developmental math, we can help to make more students successful, which should translate into better retention rates among our high-risk students.

In order to provide a complete program on each campus, we will need to provide some alternative delivery modes where single course enrollments would be small. We must also make sure that the complete developmental math task is not so big that it discourages students from even starting. Further recommendations below address these issues.

Arguments in favor of expanded course offerings include:

(a) The Mat 091 success rates and average grades are improved by the presence of Mat 090 on campus; and

(b) Students who succeed in a developmental math course show a significant increase in cumulative grade point averages (suggesting that students reap benefits across the curriculum, not just in math). This difference is even greater if a student has had more than one developmental math course.

2) Make developmental courses available in alternate formats such as self-study, computer software, or distance education to ensure the availability on campuses with traditionally low enrollments. Access to local (on each campus) guidance and encouragement with defined structure and pacing should be included in the course delivery plan. The main reason we are not offering Mat 081 on all campuses right now is the lack of enrollment. The same problem is certainly a hindrance to offering Mat 090. If we want to have any realistic chance of making these courses available to all students, we must develop some alternatives to the traditional on-site lecture course. Note that developmental math students do not fit the standard profiles of successful distance learners, so it is imperative that we account for their needs when planning these courses (see recommendation #4).

3) Develop a pilot program of module courses that allow for completion of all developmental math needs within one academic year. Possible models may include a 5-credit combined Mat 090 and 091, or a four-course sequence of 2-credit modules that cover the full sequence Mat 090, 081, and 091. For most students, the ability to complete their developmental math needs in a timely fashion is important so that they can get on with their degree credit work. Some may even be unwilling to start college if they know that the developmental math requirements would postpone their eventual degree plans by as much as two years. A modular course would provide even more flexibility for placement of students below the Mat 105 level, and some students would be able to complete their developmental work in less time and fewer credits. Modular courses could be designed to fit alternative delivery modes as well.

4) Increase the level of tutorial support available to developmental math students. Math tutorial labs exist on each of our campuses, but staffing levels vary greatly. Not all campuses have a professional tutor available, and some could also benefit from greater availability of peer tutors. Tutorial centers that address multiple student needs including math help, writing help, and advising are preferable to math-only labs. Developmental students should continue to receive support in credit courses after completing their developmental math work. Changes in course delivery as suggested above would make the need for increased professional academic support even more important. The needs of nontraditional students, lab hours, tutor training (by a math professional), and advising should all be considered in expanding the roles of these support centers.

5) Limit class sizes to 25 students in developmental math courses. While the overall mean class size for developmental math courses is about 24, some sections have 30 to 35 students. One caution is that a lower class size limit may reduce the 136 fund revenues for some campuses, depending on current enrollment statistics.

There is clear evidence that students at all levels benefit from smaller class sizes, but it is perhaps more important at the developmental level. Students come into these courses with very different backgrounds and skill levels, and the instructor must work with them all to get to the necessary knowledge and skill base expected in the degree credit courses. We must keep in mind that the developmental math courses are skills intensive; students with widely varying abilities often need individual attention for successful growth in these skills. In addition to teaching basic math skills, our developmental math instructors must take on roles as advisors and mentors, helping students to overcome anxiety, learn study skills, and more generally just survive in college. All of these extra support functions are easier with a smaller class size.

6) Offer Mat 091 for 4 credits. UW Fox Valley and UW Marshfield/Wood County currently offer Mat 091 for 4 credits. We have other examples of success in the Mat 097 offered through the TRIO programs at UW Rock County and UW Waukesha. This may be easiest to implement as part of suggestion #3 above. Expanding the instructor contact hours for this course would allow for better coverage of the same content, time for the use of pedagogical innovations such as collaborative learning or teaching-in-context, and more student learning opportunities. Instructors teaching 3 credit courses report that they can not adequately cover all of the expected material, and they certainly do not have time to work on projects that would take up that valuable instructional time. We should revisit the standard syllabi for this course as well to determine if the full list of topics is really appropriate and necessary (especially in comparison to Mat 105).

7) Establish goals and assess the effectiveness of the developmental math program on an annual basis. Special attention should be given to the effectiveness of moving students from developmental to degree credit courses. All program changes or pilot projects should be assessed as well, with comparisons to the overall program assessment measures.

8) The standard syllabi for Mat 091 and 081 should be revised. The math department adopted these syllabi in 1990. There is some disagreement between the Mat 091 syllabi and current math department expectations. We should make sure that these syllabi reflect current expectations for content, pedagogy, course proficiencies, and preparation for Mat 105. The department should continue discussions on the appropriate level of calculator and software usage for teaching and learning in these courses. Discussions of revisions should take place in the context of designing new delivery modes (items 1, 2, and 3 above).

9) Inform students and staff about the benefits of developmental education. It is important for students to be aware of the benefits that they can expect from taking developmental math courses. If we can offer them a better chance for degree completion or transfer, then we should promote its effectiveness and students should feel motivated in spite of their greater needs. I think we will get great cooperation from student services' personnel who currently have trouble convincing students that its worth the time and money they put will into a developmental math course.

10) Give time to see the effects of new changes in the Math Placement Test score reporting system. Beginning in April 2000, the Center for Placement Testing will be reporting a new set of scores for the Math Placement Exam. The specific test items that comprise the elementary algebra (E-ALG) score have changed, and new normalized standard scores are being used. The net effect is supposed to give us a better picture of which students need placement into Mat 090, 091 or 105. We should monitor these placements in our courses next year and use that information to decide whether any other changes will be necessary. One note here: the Math Department Bylaws should be amended to change the list of scores reported in section II.E.2.

Implementation Issues

Changes in credit levels or class size limits would require more instructional time (that is, larger FTE staff appointments) at a time when many campuses are struggling to find qualified instructors to teach at the current load levels. Campuses would also have to arrange room and course schedules to provide space to meet four or more days per week. Another negative is the attitude of students towards the non-degree credit courses. Many students are unwilling to pay for course work that does not fulfill degree requirements, and it can be hard to motivate those students who do sign up for developmental math. If we proceed with this idea, we will need to sell it to the students by offering a more attractive package and by promoting the benefits they get from developmental math courses.

Since our developmental courses run on a fee-recovery basis, restricting class sizes would decrease the net revenue. We should try to minimize the effect on the funding of related campus programs that currently serve the developmental student population. We also do not want to have to turn students away because the only section offered on a campus is full. The good news is that our average class size is already under 25, and only a few sections would be affected each year (primarily Mat 091).

We should be prepared to provide additional compensation for instructors to develop course materials if we go ahead with any pilot programs of alternate course models. I would expect to work on any such project as part of my duties as Developmental Math Coordinator, but I would also want to draw from the expertise and experience of our instructional pool to ensure the success of the project.

It is exciting to think about the positive changes we could be making in our developmental math program. It is my desire to keep a student centered focus, since these students are the ones who truly benefit in the end. We are not just trying to produce more Mat 105 students, but better students in general. The positive effects of good experiences in developmental math will stay with these students throughout their college work and even beyond.

Assessment

Program assessment is included as a recommendation above (#7) because any efforts for improvement without assessment will be ineffective. We must be able to measure the results of our actions to determine if we are headed in the right direction. Now that we have some base information to compare to, we should be able to judge on a regular basis whether we are accomplishing our program objectives. The department should establish goals for the developmental math program that would provide direction for assessing its effectiveness. I have included specific figures below for the sake of starting discussion about what we would hope to achieve. These figures are set slightly higher than actual results from the past five academic years to give us something to aim for as a benchmark for improvement.

Program assessment could measure such items as the following:

Goal	Assessment Measure	Frequency
Students will be successful in developmental math courses.	At least 70% of students enrolled in developmental math courses will successfully complete the developmental course.	Each semester
Students will move from the developmental program to degree credit math courses.	At least 60% of students who successfully completed Mat 091 or equivalent will either transfer or enroll in a credit math course within one year.	Annually
Successful developmental math students will perform at least as well as non-developmental students in Mat 105.	Measured by Mat 105 success rates (C- or better) and attrition rates (drop or withdrawal).	Each semester
Successful developmental math students will be better prepared for college credit courses.	Cumulative GPAs and retention.	Annually
Developmental math students will achieve designated course proficiencies.	Mat 091 assessment procedure	Each semester