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Learn about NCC's innovative program offering free online math refresher courses for adult students placed into developmental math, aiding in skill improvement and progression in the math sequence.
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A SMAR3Ter Path Through Developmental Math Mary Lou Hull – Project Director Miles Harris – Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Today’s Agenda- • NCC Students and Math Placement • Program Overview and Development • Selection of Math Content & Brief Tour of Refresher • Mentoring and Monitoring Student Success • Sharing Results • Video and Q&A
About Northampton Community College • Main campus: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania • Monroe campus: Tannersville, Pennsylvania • Other satellite campuses • Student Size: over 10,000 • Open admission
Student Population Around 1/3 of the students are non-traditional (age 25 or older) Four out of ten traditional age students are part-time, while eight out of ten non-traditional age students are part-time 13% of the students graduate within 3 years Approximately half the students need various forms of financial aid
Math Requirement • The majority of the students need at least one college level math course for their degrees • Students with SAT scores above 500 or PSSA scores 1300 or higher can place into certain college level courses (not Trigonometry and Calculus related courses). • All the other students need to take a Math placement test (Accuplacer). • Students are allowed to re-take the placement test once.
Accuplacer (College Board) • Three Assessment components: • Arithmetic • Elementary Algebra • College Level Math • The test is adaptive and automatically scored while the students are testing. • The test starts in the Elementary Algebra component. Students who score below 40 are then routed into the Arithmetic test.
Developmental Math Population 7 • 83% of the students who take the placement tests place into one or more developmental math courses. Numbers of students enrolled in the developmental math courses. (Not the number of students placed into these courses)
FIPSE Smar3t Path Math Grant Program Overview and Development
Program Overview • FIPSE federal grant • $402,066 for 2010 & 2011 • $158,357 for third year 2012 • Purpose: • Provide free, on-line math refresher to adult students who place into developmental math • Facilitate ‘brush up’ of math skills, helping students to ‘skip ahead’ in the math sequence.
SMAR3T Acronym • Saving Money - refers to cost efficiencies to enable community colleges to scale up a successful program • Accelerated – refers to a program that will allow adult students to work through developmental math courses at a faster pace • Remediation Reform Roundtable – refers to an advisory team comprised of members from a wide variety of departments for the purpose of providing unique perspectives and buy-in from many areas of the college • Technology – refers to the use of technology to provide a self- paced on-line math refresher that can be accessed from any location with internet access
Math Refresher Modules • Four unique refresher modules to coincide with each developmental math course at NCC • Modules were created in MyMathTest (Pearson ) by two NCC college professors who selected each of the problems for ‘chapter’ tests and study plans. • Pre-Algebra (Math 020) Refresher • Elementary Algebra (Math 022 ) Refresher • Intermediate Algebra (Math 026) Refresher • Elementary Algebra and Interm Algebra (Math 028) in accelerated course.
R3 Team Remediation Reform Roundtable Meets monthly to provide guidance and support for the project on an on-going basis Administration Project Director Finance Instructional Designer Faculty R3 Team Advising Ctr for Teaching & Learning Learning Center Institutional Research
Staffing Needs • Hire a full-time Project Director to manage and coordinate all grant activities • Contract an Outside Evaluator for data analysis and FIPSE reporting • Contract an Instructional Designer to design the Refresher and create the basic structure • Contract a database consultant to create an Access database for housing student data • Hire a part-time Mentor for case management at each campus
Implementation (First 6 months) • Created a Timeline for the first 18 months • Convened the R3 Team on a monthly basis for guidance • Hired Staff • Brought in experts from Ivy Tech for professional development and advice • Brought two math faculty, instructional designer, and project director together to design and create the modules • Hired and trained a FIPSE Mentor/Tutor at both campuses • Designed and created informational brochures for advising and the students • Worked with Access expert to design and develop data repository
Role of Advising • Administer Accuplacer test and identify eligible students • Communicate Math Refresher details to eligible students • Obtain Informed Consent Signature • Hand off to the Learning Center Mentors • Administer Accuplacer retest after student completes the Refresher
Eligibility Requirements • 21 years of age or older • Accuplacer Arithmetic Score of at least 40
FIPSE Smar3t Path Math Grant Refresher Creation and Brief Tour
Refresher Creation • Decide on delivery method. • MyMathTest • Select problems for the Study Plan. • Problems were selected to match the outcomes of the courses, not to match the Accuplacer. • Select problems from the Study Plan to put on the Module Tests. • Review the Accuplacer, and add or modify problems as needed to better prepare students for the placement test re-take.
MyMathTest Parallels MyMathLab http://mymathtest.com
Take Module Test Refresher Map Score ≥ 90% Work in Study Plan customized by test results No Yes Move on to next module
Refresher Tour • http://www.mymathtest.com/login_mmt.htm
FIPSE Smar3t Path Math Grant Mentoring and Monitoring Student Success
Selecting Mentors • Both the Main and Monroe Campuses have a FIPSE Smart Path Math Refresher Mentor. • Both Mentors have the same set of responsibilities, developed by the Project Director and R3 team. • Mentors had to apply for the position and were interviewed by the Grant Project Director. • The Learning Center Director at Main and Learning Center Manager at Monroe assist in the supervision of these Mentors.
Mentor Support Main Campus – Janet Perry Facilitate an individual 1 hour orientation session for each student Enter new students in the Access database and monitor progress Motivate students towards success through regular contact Provide tutoring support as needed Monroe Campus – Joanne Charron
Exit Reasons Exit is defined as leaving the program by retesting OR expiration of the 16 week software license plus 4 weeks. • Illness • No response after registration • Other • Too busy with job • Registered to take the class • Dropped out of school • Family/personal issues • Too busy with schoolwork • Content too difficult • License expired, no retest • Little or no work in refresher • Retested and did not pass • Retested and passed
FIPSE Smar3t Path Math Grant Sharing Results
FIPSE SMAR3 T Path Math Grant Results as of 1/16/2013 Note: The remaining 23 of our 228 students are still working in the refresher.
FIPSE Smar3t Path Math Grant Thank you for joining us today.