Increasing Student Success in Developmental Mathematics Proceedings of a Workshop (2019) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Current Landscape of Developmental Mathematics Education
2 The Current Landscape of Developmental Mathematics Education
Pages 11-30
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From page 11... ...
Additionally, the current strategies for creating equitable opportunities for all students were discussed. STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE DEVELOPMENTAL MATHEMATICS EDUCATION Elizabeth Zachry Rutschow, a senior research associate at MDRC, who has led numerous research projects on developmental education, provided an overview of "Developmental Mathematics Reforms," a paper commissioned by the workshop planning committee on the range of developmental mathematics reforms being implemented and evaluated at 2- and 4-year institutions across the United States.
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From page 12... ...
Of the new approaches, Zachry Rutschow described five sets of reforms that are currently being offered to students in developmental mathematics education: assessment and placement, structure and sequence, instruction and content, student support, and comprehensive (see Box 2-1)
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From page 13... ...
. Assessment and Placement Reforms Given that students are often incorrectly placed into develop ental m courses and often fail to progress to credit-bearing courses, Zachry Rutschow shared that various types of assessment and placement reforms are being implemented to mitigate these outcomes.
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From page 14... ...
, according to Zachry Rutschow. Descriptive studies in Arkansas and Mississippi found that early assessment increased students' skills and the likelihood of placement into college-level mathematics courses, but QE studies in California, Florida, and Tennessee suggested that this intervention might not lead to completion of higher college-level mathematics courses, Zachry Rutschow explained.
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From page 15... ...
Zachry Rutschow shared early results from an RCT study conducted at the State University of New York by the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness, which showed that students are more likely to be placed into and complete a college-level mathematics course as a result of the multiple measures assessment reform. Additionally, she shared that a QE study in Florida -- a state in which using students' high school grades to evaluate college readiness is mandatory -- showed that students with higher levels of high school preparation succeeded more often in college-level courses, which, she stated, could make a compelling case for offering the multiple measures assessment.
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From page 16... ...
Descriptive studies demonstrated that compressed courses lead to an increase in successful completion of developmental education courses, and a QE study on the Community College of Denver's FastStart Program demonstrated an increase in the likelihood of students completing a college-level mathe atics m course within 3 years as compared to their peers, who were not placed in compressed courses. The co-requisite model, Zachry Rutschow explained, is another innovative approach to reforming course structure.
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From page 17... ...
Zachry Rutschow synthesized RCT results from studies at Queensborough Community College and Houston Community College, which indicated that students in learning communities succeeded in developmental mathematics courses at higher rates than their peers; however, these studies have shown moderate effects on the accumulation of mathematics and total academic credits and no positive effect on student persistence. Although learning communities were most popular in 2000, Zachry Rutschow explained that these interventions are not implemented as often as some of the others, given how challenging they are to execute successfully and given the model's limited long-term positive effects.
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From page 18... ...
Owing to an increase in the number of careers that require statistical and quantitative literacy, the multiple mathematics pathways model has emerged as another type of reform in response to the traditional "algebrafor-all" approach to mathematics education, Zachry Rutschow commented. The multiple mathematics pathways approach aligns mathematics course content directly with students' intended majors and careers (e.g., quantitative literacy for humanities majors, statistics for social and health sciences majors, and calculus for STEM majors)
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From page 19... ...
Zachry Rutschow shared that another way to increase support for developmental education students is by providing tutoring and supplemental instruction (i.e., a peer or instructor is paired with a class and facilitates a separate support section)
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From page 20... ...
Zachry Rutschow noted that these two programs are just beginning to scale and thus are not yet as widespread as guided pathways programs. Nevertheless, preliminary findings from an RCT study of the CUNY Start Program suggest that CUNY Start students are both progressing through developmental courses and enrolling at higher rates after completing the program.
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From page 21... ...
Zachry Rutschow noted that some states have attempted alignment across K–12 and postsecondary institutions, especially through early assessment programs. EDUCATIONAL EQUITY AND DEVELOPMENTAL MATHEMATICS REFORM While the most common reforms in developmental education -- assessment and placement, structure and sequence, instruction and content, student support, and comprehensive reforms that embrace one or more of these strategies -- have proven successful in some instances, Zachry Rutschow revealed that these reforms are not reaching all students, and even in cases in which the data suggest that the reform approach is successful, some students are still not well served (Zachry Rutschow, 2019)
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From page 22... ...
This successful program has been replicated in several other states, including Florida, Georgia, New York, Texas, and Washington. Adiredja focuses his research specifically on equity issues in under graduate mathematics education.
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engaging with systems that are scaling developmental education reforms, (2) supporting a network of institutions that are advancing developmental education in key areas, and (3)
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From page 24... ...
Excelencia in Education highlights programs across the United States that have successfully supported Latino students in higher education through its annual "Examples of Excelencia"16 awards and provides an evidence base of best practices for mathematics education in its "Growing What Works" database.17 Drawing on her personal experience as a student from the Texas border, she observed that students who are successful in mathematics tend to have access to opportunities that others may not have, which reinforces the need for reforms that eliminate inequitable trajectories for students. Moving into the moderated question-and-answer portion of the panel, Dorsey asked the panelists to discuss the dominant narrative of success in developmental mathematics reform -- which is centered on achievement gap, quantitative data, and race/ethnicity -- and to consider how this dominant narrative affects student outcomes.
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From page 25... ...
Taking a different approach to Dorsey's question, Adiredja described the "status that is conferred to people who know mathematics" and championed the value of helping students to develop the "mathematical efficiency" to be able to participate rather than be shut out of conversations among people with mathematical understanding. Referencing a conversation that took place among the panelists prior to the panel discussion, Adiredja noted that Dorsey himself benefitted from a self-paced mathematics course, even though it was not a "recommended" approach based on the research shared by Zachry Rutschow, which indicated that this approach tended to slow student progress.
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From page 26... ...
Building on Zachry Rutschow's presentation about reforms in developmental mathematics education, Dorsey asked panelists if the ideal outcomes that they outlined are in fact attainable by way of the current assessment, placement, and instructional reforms. Roberts pointed out that reforming structure is only part of the way to achieve student success.
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From page 27... ...
He also expressed the urgent need for reform efforts to extend further to engage with racism, sexism, and ableism dimensions. Panelists invited members of the audience to share their questions and observations about equity issues in developmental mathematics education.
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From page 28... ...
She revealed that the mathematics education community is not "counting" certain groups of students -- for example, students with disabilities, first-generation college students, Native American students, Middle Eastern students, and Pacific Islander students. "By not counting these groups, we are rendering our ideology about who counts" in the education system, she asserted.
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From page 29... ...
LANDSCAPE OF DEVELOPMENTAL MATHEMATICS EDUCATION 29 Zachry Rutschow's observation that new normative structures are being implemented throughout higher education, Treisman pointed out that because it is impossible to retrofit equity to systems that were not designed for it, the hope for equity lies in the space created by these new approaches to "[design] with care about who the beneficiaries are likely to be."
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