Across the United States, students entering college are surprised to find they are identified as needing remedial math courses before moving on to college-level, credit-bearing courses. Having a high school diploma does not guarantee that students are prepared for college courses. The students assigned to remedial math courses face barriers, such as higher costs and more time needed to complete their degree. This situation happens at Delaware Technical Community College (DTCC). DTCC is an open-admission, two-year institution of higher education committed to preparing students to enter directly into the workforce or obtain an associate degree. This study aimed to determine whether a new model of math remediation, called the corequisite model, could replace the current model of prerequisite remediation. Pilot corequisite math courses were run at DTCC in the fall of 2020. Three research questions were posed. The first question asked how students in general, and Black and Hispanic students in particular, perform on the unit tests and the final exam. The second question asked how students describe their experiences with corequisite remediation. The third question asked what the lessons learned are about teaching a corequisite remediation course. A mixed-method design was used to answer these research questions. For the quantitative results, the instruments used were four common unit tests and a common final exam. For the qualitative portion of the study, the instruments used were focus-group interviews, two types of reflections, and the end- of-course survey. Results showed that 22 out of 42 corequisite math students passed the college-level course for an overall pass rate of 52%. This is an encouraging result because those 22 students, before the corequisite model, would have been placed in prerequisite or remedial math courses at DTCC this fall and instead, these students successfully passed their college-level math requirement for their two-year degree. In addition, disaggregated data shows that during the fall of 2020, our white support (corequisite) students passed their college-level course at a 50% pass rate while our Black or African American (corequisite) students passed their college-level course at a 45% pass rate. Finally, the Hispanic support (corequisite) students passed their college-level course at a 75% pass rate. This data, although derived from a small sample size, is encouraging in two ways. First, more than half of the students designated as remedial students passed the college-level course with the built-in, just- in-time corequisite support. Second, the gap between the pass rate of our white and Black and African American students during the fall of 2020 is 5%, lending some credibility to efficacy of the corequisite model of remediation. In addition, this study found interesting correlations between academic performance and attendance in a corequisite remediation class especially for our Black and African American population. If there truly is a correlation between academic performance and attendance, giving opportunities to earn credit during class with small activities to think through and submit for a grade could help this population show their mastery of the concepts and encourage more regular attendance. If we can leverage this knowledge, it could help to permanently obliterate the achievement gap.

The Pulitzer Prize–winning magazine’s stories of mathematical explorations show that inspiration strikes haphazardly, revealing surprising solutions and exciting discoveries—with a foreword by James Gleick These stories from Quanta Magazine map the routes of mathematical exploration, showing readers how cutting-edge research is done, while illuminating the productive tension between conjecture and proof, theory and intuition. The stories show that, as James Gleick puts it in the foreword, “inspiration strikes willy-nilly.” One researcher thinks of quantum chaotic systems at a bus stop; another suddenly realizes a path to proving a theorem of number theory while in a friend's backyard; a statistician has a “bathroom sink epiphany” and discovers the key to solving the Gaussian correlation inequality. Readers of The Prime Number Conspiracy, says Quanta editor-in-chief Thomas Lin, are headed on “breathtaking intellectual journeys to the bleeding edge of discovery strapped to the narrative rocket of humanity's never-ending pursuit of knowledge.” Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, Quanta is the only popular publication that offers in-depth coverage of the latest breakthroughs in understanding our mathematical universe. It communicates mathematics by taking it seriously, wrestling with difficult concepts and clearly explaining them in a way that speaks to our innate curiosity about our world and ourselves. Readers of this volume will learn that prime numbers have decided preferences about the final digits of the primes that immediately follow them (the “conspiracy” of the title); consider whether math is the universal language of nature (allowing for “a unified theory of randomness”); discover surprising solutions (including a pentagon tiling proof that solves a century-old math problem); ponder the limits of computation; measure infinity; and explore the eternal question “Is mathematics good for you?” Contributors Ariel Bleicher, Robbert Dijkgraaf, Kevin Hartnett, Erica Klarreich, Thomas Lin, John Pavlus, Siobhan Roberts, Natalie Wolchover Copublished with Quanta Magazine

Why and how American colleges and universities need to change in order to meet the nation's pressing needs American higher education faces some serious problems—but they are not the ones most people think. In this brief and accessible book, two leading experts show that many so-called crises—from the idea that typical students are drowning in debt to the belief that tuition increases are being driven by administrative bloat—are exaggerated or simply false. At the same time, many real problems—from the high dropout rate to inefficient faculty staffing—have received far too little attention. In response, William G. Bowen and Michael S. McPherson provide a frank assessment of the biggest challenges confronting higher education and propose a bold agenda for reengineering essential elements of the system to meet them. The result promises to help shape the debate about higher education for years to come. Lesson Plan shows that, for all of its accomplishments, higher education today is falling short when it comes to vital national needs. Too many undergraduates are dropping out or taking too long to graduate; minorities and the poor fare worse than their peers, reinforcing inequality; and college is unaffordable for too many. But these problems could be greatly reduced by making significant changes, including targeting federal and state funding more efficiently; allocating less money for "merit aid" and more to match financial need; creating a respected “teaching corps” that would include nontenure faculty; improving basic courses in fields such as math by combining adaptive learning and face-to-face teaching; strengthening leadership; and encouraging more risk taking. It won't be easy for faculty, administrators, trustees, and legislators to make such sweeping changes, but only by doing so will they make it possible for our colleges and universities to meet the nation’s demands tomorrow and into the future.

In the United States, 1,200 community colleges enroll over ten million students each year—nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates. Yet fewer than 40 percent of entrants complete an undergraduate degree within six years. This fact has put pressure on community colleges to improve academic outcomes for their students. Redesigning America’s Community Colleges is a concise, evidence-based guide for educational leaders whose institutions typically receive short shrift in academic and policy discussions. It makes a compelling case that two-year colleges can substantially increase their rates of student success, if they are willing to rethink the ways in which they organize programs of study, support services, and instruction. Community colleges were originally designed to expand college enrollments at low cost, not to maximize completion of high-quality programs of study. The result was a cafeteria-style model in which students pick courses from a bewildering array of choices, with little guidance. The authors urge administrators and faculty to reject this traditional model in favor of “guided pathways”—clearer, more educationally coherent programs of study that simplify students’ choices without limiting their options and that enable them to complete credentials and advance to further education and the labor market more quickly and at less cost. Distilling a wealth of data amassed from the Community College Research Center (Teachers College, Columbia University), Redesigning America’s Community Colleges offers a fundamental redesign of the way two-year colleges operate, stressing the integration of services and instruction into more clearly structured programs of study that support every student’s goals.

This quantitative non-experimental study examined college remediation within Virginia's 23 community colleges to determine the effect remediation had on graduation rates. The decrease in the level of math skills for entering freshman has led to an increase in the number of college remedial courses. Cognitive load theory (CLT) provided the theoretical framework in that instructional design considers the limitations of the working memory and the process of transforming instructional practices. By combining these two focus areas students acquire foundational knowledge and cognitive process development leading to graduation rate. For research question 1, a paired samples t-test compared the graduation rate of the remediated student population to the graduation rate of the whole-school student population at the college level (n = 23). The graduation rate of the remediated student population was found to be significantly lower than the graduation rate of the whole-school student population, t(22) = -2.71, p = .013. For research question 2, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) compared the college level graduation rate of the remediated student population longitudinally across 10 cohorts (1998-2007, n = 10) to examine the long-term effect of remediation education. The result indicated that there was a difference across the cohorts F(9, 198) = 3.21, p = .00. Specifically, graduation rate increased from 2000 to 2007, suggesting an upward trend in the remediation result.

Universities and the social circuitry of finance -- Our new financial oligarchy -- Bankers to the rescue : the political turn to student debt -- The top : how universities became hedge funds -- The bottom : a Wall Street takeover of for-profit colleges -- The middle : a hidden squeeze on public universities -- Reimagining (higher education) finance from below -- Methodological appendix : a comparative, qualitative, and quantitative study of elites.

Developmental Education: Readings on Its Past, Present, and Future offers twenty-two selections on historical efforts to serve underprepared students, on the state of developmental education today, and on innovative practices and possible directions for the future. Compiled by Hunter R. Boylan, Director of the National Center for Developmental Education (NCDE) and a professor of Higher Education at Appalachian State University, and Barbara S. Bonham, a professor in the Department of Leadership and Educational Studies at Appalachian State University, each chapter also includes introductions and questions for discussion and reflection.

Algebra is the language that must be mastered for any course that uses math because it is the gateway for entry into any science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discipline. This book fosters mastery of critical math and algebraic concepts and skills essential to all of the STEM disciplines and some of the social sciences. This book is written by practitioners whose primary teaching subject is not math but who use math extensively in their courses in STEM disciplines, social science statistics, and their own research. Moreover, in the writing of this book, the authors have used the teaching principles of anchoring, overlearning, pruning the course to its essentials, and using simple and familiar language in word problems.

The Math Remediation Task Force is comprised of faculty from two-year, four-year comprehensive, and four-year flagship higher education institutions throughout the state of New Mexico. Its members have varying levels of experience with designing/implementing multiple math remediation programs including traditional, co-requisite and acceleration models. Each member has been an advocate for her/his students both at the institution-level, as well as at the Math Remediation Task Force-levels. The Task Force has suggested throughout this report that, instead of doing one sweeping reform, institutions consider implementing reform in stages. The body of research could benefit significantly from a better understanding of which reform practices are the most effective, how they work best and who they work best for. By reforming intake processes first, such as placement and advising, colleges will have a better idea of what part(s) of their curriculum will need to be reformed. What is suggested is an integrative approach instead of just shortening pathways since each college is different. It is also important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to developmental education. Making sure that students have options and that faculty and colleges have the time and resources to make changes is vital to ensure that all students have the opportunity to be successful. By ensuring that students are properly placed, offering developmental pathways appropriate to each gateway course, reducing exit points by shortening pathways wherever possible, and keeping longer/self-paced options available for those who need it, you can save students time without marginalizing anyone. An appendix lists the members of the Indianapolis team and their affiliations.

This guide offers updated shopping tips to people visiting China. It explains what to buy (from porcelain, jade and pearls to silk, antiques, carpets and custom-tailored clothing), how to deal with local merchants and get the best prices, and where to find the best stores, markets and shopping districts - all in a handy pocket-sized format. It also provides tips on finding airfare, hotel and dining bargains.