from Inquiry, Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 1998, 26-31
© Copyright 1998 Virginia Community College System
Abstract
Based on comparisons of students' success rates in developmental math courses and results of a VCCS survey, math faculty at SWVCC increased the number of credit hours for developmental mathematics courses, allowing students more time to master fundamental concepts before enrolling in college-level math courses.
Recent literature has focused national attention on the percentage of students taking developmental (foundation) courses before beginning their college-level course work. According to a recent study released by the U.S. Department of Education (Gose, 1997), 29% of college students take at least one remedial course. At Southwest Virginia Community College (SWVCC), 40% of our graduates take noncredit foundation courses as part of their program of study (Smith, September, 1996). With such a high percentage of students enrolling in foundation courses, it is reasonable to track these students and compare them with non-developmental students in college-level mathematics courses to determine what implications these findings have for the hours of credit assigned to developmental courses.
Background
SWVCC offers three developmental mathematics courses for students who arrive needing preparatory course work in mathematics: Basic Arithmetic-Math 02, Basic Algebra I-Math 03, and Basic Algebra II-Math 04. Upon enrollment, full-time students are given the appropriate level of the ASSET placement test that assesses their developmental needs in mathematics as well as other courses. Based on their scores, students who need work in developmental mathematics are then advised to take one of the three basic courses. Following this initial placement, students are then given an in-house readiness test on the first or second day of class in each of these three developmental mathematics courses to determine if they do indeed have the necessary math skills to succeed in this specific course. Results of the readiness tests are returned to the students during the first week of classes so that necessary course changes can be made early in the semester during the drop/add period.
Pilot Study
Until fall 1994, all three of these developmental courses were offered for three credit hours. At this time, a pilot effort was initiated that changed Math 04 to a four-credit hour course (on campus only). Results from tracking developmental students from 1989-1992 (Smith, 1994) prompted this change. The success rate was lowest (55%) for developmental students progressing on into the Precalculus course. The success rate for developmental students in other college-level mathematics courses ranged from 68% to I 00%. Since Math 04 is the prerequisite course for Precalculus, it was felt that students were not mastering the concepts in this preparatory course needed for success in Precalculus. Thus, the purpose of this pilot was to increase the credit from three to four hours per week in order to allow more time for difficult topics, to cover a few additional topics needed as preparation for Precalculus, and to initiate some innovative techniques or approaches, including group projects, to strengthen students' understanding of the content in the course. Math 04 students successfully completing the course were then tracked into Precalculus for four semesters from spring 1995 through fall 1996. The table below compares the success rate for the three-hour and four-hour Math 04 students in Precalculus with the success rate of non-developmental students.
| Success Rates for Math 163-Precalculus | |||
| 1989-1994 | |||
| Students | #A's, B's, C's | % A's, B's, C's | Total # |
| 3-hr Developmental | 93 | 41.3% | 225 |
| Non-Developmental | 470 | 66.5% | 707 |
| 932 | |||
| 1995-1996 | |||
| 4-hr Developmental | 24 | 73% | 33 |
| Non-Developmental | 214 | 56% | 385 |
| 418 | |||
Discussion
Over the six semesters from 1989-1994, the three-hour Math 04 students had only a 41.3% success rate in Precalculus, whereas the non-developmental students had a 66.5% rate of success in Precalculus, a 25% higher success rate for the nondevelopmental Precalculus students. For the two-year period in which Math 04 was offered as a four-hour course, these figures were completely reversed. The four-hour Math 04 students had a 73% success rate, whereas the non-developmental Precalculus students had only a 56% success rate. This difference is a l7% higher success rate for the developmental students in Precalculus. Clearly, changing Math 04 from a three-hour to a four-hour course had a positive impact. This change allowed more time for Math 04 students to absorb and master the fundamental concepts in algebra. Thus, this study suggests that students who successfully complete the four-hour Math 04 course first stand a much better chance of success in Precalculus. It should be noted that the sample size in this study is quite small (24 students) and other variables-e.g. class size, teacher, time of day, etc.-may have influenced the increase in success rate.
| Course Number | Course Title | Success Rate |
| Math 02 | Basic Arithmetic | 49% |
| Math 03 | Basic Algebra I | 53.7% |
| Math 04 | Basic Algebra II | 62.7% |
The success rate for Math 04 is at least 10 percentage points higher than the success rate for Math 03 and Math 02. This higher success rate for Math 04 is attributed, in part, to the changes implemented in fall 1994. This finding also raises several questions about more credit hours for developmental mathematics courses. Would it be reasonable to expect an even higher success rate for Math 04 if the course credits were increased to five hours? Could we see similar results by increasing the number of credit hours for Math 02 and Math 03? Would increasing the number of students who successfully complete developmental courses lead to increased enrollments for college-level mathematics courses?
Increasing the number of credit hours for these courses would also pose some challenges, both in the area of finance and scheduling. First, since faculty teaching loads are fixed at 15 hours, an increase to five credit hours for three developmental courses would require additional faculty. Second, many students at SWVCC attend classes on a MWF or TR pattern, which allows them the convenience of commuting to SWVCC only two or three days per week. For some students, this format is essential because of family and/or employment responsibilities. Five-hour classes meeting daily would preclude both of these patterns and require students taking a developmental mathematics course to commute daily. Furthermore, requiring evening and off- campus sections of these developmental classes to continue meeting one day per week for a five- hour stint would not be a reasonable option.
At first glance, these issues appear to present insurmountable obstacles to increasing the credit hours for developmental mathematics courses. So, although results of the pilot study were most impressive, we chose to remain cautious in proceeding to increase the credit hours for the developmental mathematics courses.
VCCS Survey
Discussions with colleagues at SWVCC and other regional colleges during fall 1996 prompted a survey of the entire VCCS to determine how much time sister institutions spend on developmental mathematics courses. This knowledge of how other colleges respond to student needs in the developmental mathematics area would be most helpful as we assessed our need for change. Both E-Mail and regular mail were used to provide survey forms (Waycaster, 1997) to each of the 34 individual campuses in the VCCS. Twenty-five (74%) of the 34 campuses responded to the survey and provided invaluable information. Not only did the respondents complete the forms requesting detailed data on each of their developmental mathematics courses for the 1995 academic year, but several of them also provided additional information and suggestions regarding staffing and scheduling problems, content coverage, and tracking efforts of their own. The staffing problem was for the most part solved by adjunct faculty and/or instructors working in conjunction with a math lab. Needless to say, there is a wide variety in credit hours assigned to the developmental sequence as well as a variety of meeting times. Creative efforts across the system have allayed concerns for scheduling issues. Whether a course is offered for three, four, or five hours credit, the institution found an acceptable meeting time for the students. This time frame may have been daily; two, three, four, or five days per week; or two evenings per week. The key ingredient here is flexibility.
An important finding from the survey is that all but one campus (SWVCC) offers at least a total of 8 hours credit for the developmental algebra sequence-Math 03 and Math 04. The table below lists the possible number of credit hours for Math 03 and Math 04 with corresponding campuses (coded for anonymity) offering this number of credit hours.
| Math 03 | Math 04 | |
| 3-hr | G | |
| 4-hr | B, C, F | B, F, D, G (on campus only) |
| 5-hr | D, E, J | C, E, J |
| 6-hr | A, K, I, H | A, I, H |
A look at the combined number of credit hours offered for Math 03 and Math 04 at each campus shows Southwest's uniqueness in offering only 7 credit hours total for Math 03 and Math 04.
| Combined Credit Hours | Campuses |
| 7 | G |
| 8 | B, F |
| 9 | C, D |
| 10 | E, J |
| 12 | A, I, H |
Currently, four of the five sister institutions in the Western section of the state - MECC (Mountain Empire Community College), VECC (Virginia Highlands Community College), WCC (Wytheville Community College), and NRCC (New River Community College)- offer a total of 10 hours credit for this algebra sequence. Most campuses across the state now offer 9 or 1O total credit hours for the sequence.
Conclusion
Following a discussion among SWVCC faculty regarding the findings from the VCCS survey, a proposal was promptly drafted which recommended that all sections-both on and off campus-of Math 02, Math 03, and Math 04 be increased to five credit- hours each and that scheduling of these courses be varied in such a way as to meet the needs of students. Late in the fall 1997 semester, this recommendation was approved for a one-year trial basis. Thus, beginning fall 1998, Math 02, Math 03, and Math 04 will be offered only as five-credit hour courses. At present, class schedules are being developed with varying meeting times for these three mathematics courses to accommodate the needs of SWWCC students. Sections of these courses may meet five days per week, three days per week, or only two days per week, but all sections will be five-credit hours.
Thus, the initial effort to deter-mine if the foundation mathematics course, Math 04, was sufficiently preparing students for Precalculus progressed from tracking developmental students into Precalculus to comparing developmental programs across the VCCS system.
The result is a college-wide consensus for increased time spent on developmental mathematics courses at SWVCC. Because these preparatory courses comprise an important part of many SWVCC graduates' programs, it is imperative that students receive sufficient time to master fundamental concepts before proceeding to college level mathematics courses.
Finally, the rationale for offering five-credit hour courses is consistent with SWVCC's commitment to developmental education. Students arriving at SWVCC needing additional course work in preparatory mathematics deserve quality foundation courses enabling them to acquire a firm background in fundamental mathematics concepts. This background should improve their subsequent success in college level courses. At present, SWVCC does provide these foundation courses, but in a format which only permits mastery by students who can achieve this goal in a limited time frame. We will make this mastery possible for a higher percentage of students by increasing the time-on-task to five hours per week for these courses beginning fall 1998. Such a change will allow most students sufficient time to absorb and master the content of these developmental courses and ultimately result in higher percentages of students enrolling and succeeding in college-level mathematics courses required in their program of study.
References
Gose, Ben(1997, September 19). Tutoring Companies Take Over Remedial Teaching at Some Colleges. The Chronicle of Higher Education, pp.A44-A45.
Smith, Ed (1994, May 3). Tracking Developmental Students. (RADSS (Research and Assessment Data Support System) Report). Richlands, VA: SVCC Planning and Development.
Smith, Ed (1996, September 18). Developmental Status of SVCC Graduates. (RADSS Report PFNRL03L). Richlands, VA: SVCC Planning and Development.
Smith, Ed (1996, November 19). Performance in DevelopmentalMath Courses: 199293 to 1995-96 by Term. (RADSS Report PFNRL07C). Richlands, VA: SVCC Planning and Development.
Waycaster, E. Pansy(I 997, February 24). Credit Hours for Math 03 and Math 04. (Survey Report to Curtis Cox). Richlands, VA: SVCC Math and Natural Science Division.
Dr. Pansy Waycaster is Professor of Mathematics at Southwest Virginia Community College in Richlands, VA. Prior to coming to SVCC in 1992, she taught mathematics at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, DePauw University in Greencastle, IN, and Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. She holds a BA in Mathematics from Beret College, an MA in Mathematics Education from Eastern Kentucky University, and a Ph.D. in Adult Education from Indiana University, Bloomington. E-mail: Pansy_Waycaster@sw.cc.va.us