Planning and Assessing Student Success in Mathematics - Gateway to STEM and Careers (PASS Math)

Penn Valley Community College Of Mcc, Kansas City MO

Investigators

Abstract

Planning and Assessing Student Success Mathematics Gateway to STEM Programs and Careers (PASS Math) focuses on reviewing and revising developmental and technical mathematics to increase a pool of students interested in science, engineering, math, and technical programs and capable of being successful in those areas at Penn Valley Community College (PVCC) and the Business Technology Center (BTC) of the Metropolitan Community Colleges (MCC) District of Kansas City, MO. An underlying assumption is that students' success in math increases when they relate math to other disciplines, engage in mathematics inquiry and problem solving, explore careers (particularly the STEM careers), and learn to communicate mathematically. The PASS Math project is assessing previous projects in mathematics, planning new developmental math pilots, including self-paced options, and planning a developmental math program that is more effective in remediating math students and preparing them for college-level math courses as well as for STEM careers. The intellectual merit of PASS Math is that efforts aim to create a significant increase in students transitioning from developmental mathematics to successful completion of college-level mathematics. Since mathematics is a significant barrier to completing associates and bachelors degrees, more students are in turn completing college degrees. By having students explore careers, particularly STEM careers, more students are ready, prepared, and interested in completing degrees in the required programs. The broader impact of PASS Math is that this model program can be disseminated to other community colleges in the country where almost 800,000 students are enrolled in developmental mathematics. A summative and formative evaluation provides data on successful activities. Project objectives include: (a) Students who participate in developmental math pilot projects experience a 50% better success rate than developmental math students who do not participate in the pilots. (b) 65% of students in developmental math pilots enroll in and successfully complete a college level math course. (c) 10% of the students in the pilots progress to college-level math courses in a shorter period. (d) 65% of minority students in developmental math pilots enroll in and successfully complete a college level-math course. (e) 10% of the minority students in the pilots progress to college-level math courses in a shorter period. (f) The number of students courses who enroll in STEM programs doubles. (g) The number of minority students who enroll in STEM programs doubles.