It's interesting to see that we are all facing the same problem of students
who receive a C in one course having a very low chance of success in the
next course. Of our Prealgebra students with a grade of C, we have found
that only 12% are successful in Beginning Algebra the next semester. We are
grappling with what to do about this.
One thing we have done is to institute a Competency Exam at the end of
Prealgebra. Students are required to pass the competency exam with a grade
of 75% (some of us feel this is too low) and the course work with a grade of
70% in order to pass the course. We are in the process now of doing the
statistics on these students (since Spring 1997) to see if the competency
exam has made a difference in the success rates in Algebra.
Question: Is any one else using competency exams in developmental courses?
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