Subject: RE: Maximum class sizes
From: George Alexander (galexand@uwc.edu)
Date: Fri Sep 22 2000 - 10:47:43 EDT
I did some research last year on our own class sizes in developmental math
courses in conjunction with a program review. At least at the UW Colleges,
we are seeing a better pass rate and better grades in developmental math
section with fewer than 30 students. My proposal to reduce enrollment limits
from 35 to 25 in developmental math sections is currently awaiting final
approval from the vice chancellor's office. In short, here are some of the
related results.
I examined data from the past five academic years in an effort to determine
our best practices in the developmental math program across the UW Colleges.
The data spans all sections on 13 campuses over this time period. Three
findings suggest the importance of limiting enrollment in developmental math
courses. The first speaks directly to the issue of class size. The second
and third indicate the importance of seeing good student results in the
developmental math courses.
Mat 081 Topics in Geometry
Mat 090 Basic Mathematics
Mat 091 Elementary Algebra
Mat 105 Intermediate Algebra (this is not a developmental course, but the
transitional credit earning course that is prerequisite to the associate
degree math proficiency requirement of College Algebra or Quantitative
Reasoning)
1) Students in sections with larger enrollments earn lower grades and have
a lower success rate (C or better) in Mat 091. There have been 296 students
in Mat 091 with class sizes over 29 since Fall 1998. These students earned
an average grade of 1.79 and had a 56% success rate in Mat 091. In
comparison, the average for all sections of Mat 091 (2640 students) in this
time was a grade of 2.01 with a success rate of 61%. The difference in
average grades is statistically significant based on a one-tailed t-test at
the 99% confidence level. Among all sections with enrollments of 25 or fewer
students, the average grade was even better at 2.11, and the success rate
was 63%.
2) Students who earned a grade of C in Mat 091 perform poorly in Mat 105
compared to students who earned A or B grades in Mat 091. Both average
grades and success rates in Mat 105 are affected by a student's performance
in Mat 091. Since Fall 1995, 3596 students have taken both Mat 091 and Mat
105. Of these, the 1776 students who earned grades of B- or better in Mat
091 went on to earn an average grade in Mat 105 of 2.40 and had a 75%
success rate (grade C- or better in Mat 105). As a group, these students
performed even better than students who started in Mat 105 without
developmental math first (2.24 grade average and 65% success rate in Mat
105). On the other hand, 1820 students with a grade of C+ or less in Mat
091 earned average grades of only 1.32 in Mat 105, with a success rate of
36%. These numbers illustrate that is extremely important for students with
developmental needs to achieve a high level of skill mastery in the
developmental course.
3) Students who are successful in developmental math courses see
significant gains in their cumulative grade point averages. Note that
developmental courses do not earn degree credit and are thus not counted in
cumulative grade point averages. This suggests that the basic math skills
have a positive affect for all of a student's credit coursework, not just in
mathematics. In particular, 10,982 students took at least one math course
numbered Mat 105 or lower in the period from Fall 1995 to Fall 1999. The
cumulative grade point average of all these students (up to and including
Spring 1999 grades) was 2.14, or just over a C average. Students who passed
Mat 090 saw a cumulative grade point average of 2.74. For successful Mat 091
students, the cumulative grade point average was 2.55, and for successful
Mat 081 students it was 2.83.
George Alexander
Developmental Math Coordinator
UW Rock County
2909 Kellogg Ave.
Janesville, WI 53546-5699
(608) 758-6627
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Morford [mailto:jmorford@hfcc.net]
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 8:38 PM
To: mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu
Subject: Re: Maximum class sizes
Bret mentioned (If I understood right) that his institution found no
significant correlation between student success and decreased developmental
class size, but that the data was suspect.
While we expect that smaller class size increases student success have any
of you found this is the case at yourcolleges? In other words changing very
little about the course except section size, did the pass rate go up? What
size were your sections? I'm wondering what the "magic number" for section
size is.
Regards,
Jeff Morford
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