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Pamela Burdman

Pamela Burdman. DEGREES OF FREEDOM: Diversification in Postsecondary Math Requirements and the Challenge of Intersegmental Alignment. DEGREES OF FREEDOM In three parts:. DRIVERS OF DIVERSIFICATION :. + New uses of math and the need for relevance –

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Pamela Burdman

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  1. Pamela Burdman DEGREES OF FREEDOM:Diversification in Postsecondary Math Requirements and the Challenge of Intersegmental Alignment

  2. DEGREES OF FREEDOM In three parts:

  3. DRIVERS OF DIVERSIFICATION : + New uses of math and the need for relevance – Undergraduate general education math requirements + Demand for deeper learning – K-12 math and college remedial math

  4. RELEVANCE: Appeals for Change 2014—Joint Policy Board for Mathematics, Meeting the Challenges of Improved Post-Secondary Education in the Mathematical Sciences 2013—National Research Council, Mathematical Sciences in 2025 2012—President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), Engage to Excel

  5. THEN AND NOW: General Education Math in Four-year Universities

  6. THEN AND NOW: Trends in Two-Year Math Enrollments

  7. SNAPSHOT: Diversifying Gen Ed Math Requirements at Public Universities • Georgia System: Introduction to Mathematical Modelingor Quantitative Skills instead of College Algebra for non-STEM majors (2013) • Ohio System: RemovedCollege Algebra as default for non-STEM majors (2014) • Arizona State University: Removed College Algebra as gen ed math requirement (2010) • UC System: • Has accepted Statistics and other courses for many years (as has CSU) • UCLA and UC Berkeley – new life sciences math courses with greater emphasis on statistics than traditional calculus-based class (2013-14) • UC Berkeley –considering changes to math requirement (2015)

  8. SNAPSHOT: Diversifying Gen Ed Math Requirements at Elite Universities

  9. DEEPER LEARNING: Why Remedial Math? It’s the evidence… • An estimated 85 percent of California community college students require remedial math courses. • About 30 percent of California community college students who enroll in developmental math complete college-level (transferable) math. • Developmental math has “insignificant or negative effects on educational outcomes” (in regression discontinuity studies at four-year and two-year college systems in four states).

  10. SOCIETAL IMPERATIVE: Remedial Education If we fail to develop more effective means for educating “remedial” students, we will find it difficult to make much headway in resolving some of our most pressing social and economic problems: unemployment, crime, welfare, health care, racial tensions, the mal-distribution of wealth, and citizen disengagement from the political process. Alexander Astin, UCLA, 1998

  11. TYPICAL TRAJECTORY: Community College Remedial Math + Placement exams vary by college ACCUPLACER, MDTP, COMPASS + Cut-off scores – vary widely by college + Additional measures may be considered (but often are not) + Students can face up to 4 remedial levels: - Arithmetic - Pre-algebra - Elementary Algebra - Intermediate Algebra

  12. INNOVATIONS: In Progress

  13. RELEVANCE:Students’ Programs of Study + Community college students: 20 percent choose STEM majors + Four-year university students: 27 percent choose STEM majors (The figures are higher at UC: 28 percent of new transfer students and 35 percent of all graduates are in STEM fields) + B.A. holders: 18 – 31 percent use Algebra 2 and beyond

  14. EXPERIMENTATION: Alternative Developmental Math Pathways + Statistics pathways + Quantitative reasoning pathways + Computer science and others

  15. PROMISE: Preliminary Results + Carnegie Foundation’s Statway – 22 colleges, 2,000+ students.Nearly half of students completed college-level math in their first year of college, versus just 6 percent in the standard pathway. (Study covered 19 institutions and 1,296 enrollees) + California Acceleration Project – 23 colleges innovating in math, 8 at time of the study. Independent researchers found that students were 4.5 times as likely to complete a transferable math course as students in traditional remedial math sequences.

  16. CHALLENGE: Articulation and Alignment + K12 standards emphasize 2nd year algebra + Transfer policies for non-STEM require 2nd year algebra + Inconsistent definition of Intermediate Algebra.

  17. STATE OF DIVERGENCE: K12 standards (Common Core) Greater emphasis on advanced algebra Alternative pathways Specifically focus on quantitative reasoning and/or statistics and de-emphasize algebra content UC and CSU admissions requirements Students must meet Common Core standards for admission as freshmen or transfer students Community college regulations Call for math courses at the level of intermediate algebra as AA requirement, and the Academic Senate promised the Board of Governors to “actively promote and support alternative courses.”

  18. TENSION: Transfer and Articulation

  19. CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE:What should CCs Prioritize? + Re-teach high school material? Align with Common Core? + Prepare students for their program of study? + Promote alternative courses? + Improve remediation rates? + Meet university freshman entrance requirements? + Deepen students’ quantitative literacy?

  20. DILEMMA:Who Has a Say? (Who doesn’t?)

  21. NOT TO MENTION:What does it mean for K-12? • Common Core standards promise to improve math achievement without a need for alternatives. • Some K-12 reformers are watching experiments with alternative remedial pathways.

  22. LOOKING AHEAD:Recommendations • Intersegmental conversations to deepen alignment across segments in math education. • Ability to gather evidence on effectiveness of alternatives, given the impressive results of innovations to date. (So no premature curtailment.) • Greater clarity about the enrollment capacity constraints of California’s three higher education systems (to distinguish choices about math requirements from these constraints).

  23. QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION: Panel One +What mathematics should all college graduates know? David Bao, San Francisco State University Phil Daro, Strategic Education Partnership Jessica Utts, UC-Irvine

  24. QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION: Panel Two + How can California’s education systems address the demand for additional math pathways, while also satisfying requirements for high school graduation, college admission, and transfer from two-year to four-year institutions? Judy Kysh, San Francisco State University Christopher Roe, California STEM Learning Network Rebecca Wong, West Valley College

  25. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Degrees of Freedom: Diversifying Requirements for College Readiness and Graduation Degrees of Freedom: Varying Routes to Math Readiness and the Challenge of Intersegmental Alignment Prior LearningWorks report: Changing Equations: How Community Colleges are Re-Thinking College Readiness in Math Pamela Burdman info@changingequations.org www.edpolicyinca.org www.LearningWorksCA.org

  26. TRANSFER & COMPLETION RATES + California community college students (using imputed degree-seekers as the denominator) 31% complete a degree, certificate or transfer to four-year school 23% transfer to four-year university (14% of Latinos) Moore & Shulock, 2010 + Three-year graduation rates for transfer students (comparable to rising juniors) UC: 82% CSU: 61% + Transfer success of community college students nationally: 15% of all entering students complete a B.A. within six years 60% of transfers receive B.A. within four years - Crosta & Kopko, 2014; Attewell & Monaghan, 2014

  27. TWO TYPES OF SEQUENCES

  28. OTHER STATES: Re-thinking Math Articulation • + In Texas, students may be designated “ready for any math course” or “ready for non-algebraically intensive math courses” • + Colorado community college systems are streamlining math remediation into alternative pathways. • + North Carolina and Indiana systems have set quantitative literacy as the default college course (instead of college algebra). • + New legislation in Florida says that statistics and quantitative reasoning meet math requirements for non-STEM majors. • + Massachusetts’higher ed board is encouraging colleges to revise the “content, sequencing, and time frame” of remedial math.

  29. WHERE YOU FOCUS DETERMINES WHAT YOU SEE . . . + lady’s face? or saxophone player?+ unprepared students? or unnecessary math requirements? or inaccurate placement testing?

  30. MOST NEVER GRADUATE: + Nationally, only 32% assigned to dev math ever complete college-level math (including 12% who skipped dev math) - Bailey et al, Columbia University Teachers’ College, 2010 + In California, 30% who enroll in dev math complete college-level (i.e. transferable) math - CCC Student Success Scorecard, 2013

  31. NO POSITIVE EFFECTS: “Regression discontinuity studies on developmental math at public four-year and community college systems across the county (Florida, New York, Virginia, and Texas) have largely found that developmental math has an insignificant or negative effect on the educational outcomes of students.” - Hodara, Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment, 2013

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