A Study on the Efficacy of Computer-Mediated Developmental Math Instruction for Traditional Community College Students

Research & Teaching in Developmental Education, Spring 2006 by Trenholm, Sven

Abstract

According to the Fall 2000 National Center for Education Statistics report on Remedial Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions, 97% of public 2 year colleges offered remedial courses in mathematics. Of these institutions, 35% of entering freshman enrolled in a remedial mathematics course. In states, such as New York, leading developmental educators in the community college system estimate that 60-70% of freshman test into remedial mathematics and only 40-50% of these students pass on their first attempt.

The driving force of this study is the contention that these numbers are unacceptably high and demand that educational power brokers and developmental educators look for ways to improve instruction and effectively increase the success rate.

With the current traditional community college developmental math student population, compounding and perhaps a major contributor to these statistics, is the inefficiency of the didactic lecture. In exploring alternate instructional modalities, of interest, is the fact that the current generation of traditional college freshman largely represents the socio-cultural grouping known as the millennial generation. Millenials, as they have come to be termed, have been characterized as heavy technology users.

To that end, the purpose of this causal-comparative quasi-experimental study is to examine how current and advancing computer technology can be utilized to leverage the millennial generation's propensity to utilize technology to effectively increase learning success and retention in the classroom. This article is the first part of this study comprising the problem background and a literature review.

The fall 2000 National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) study on remedial* instruction displays the following results for public two-year colleges (NCES, 2003):

* 97 percent offer remedial courses in mathematics (more likely than any other institution to provide remedial education)

* 35 percent of all entering freshmen are enrolled in remedial math courses (compared to 23 percent for remedial English)

* 63 percent of remedial math students spend one year or more in remedial mathematics

Currently, in New York State, there is no statewide study on developmental or remedial math education. However, Sharon Testone of Onondaga Community College and Ted Syzmanski of Tompkins Cortland Community College (recognized as two of New York State's most well-known and prolific developmental math educators), share from their considerable years of experience in the field of developmental math education that somewhere between 40-60% of incoming community college freshmen must take a developmental math course and of those students 50-60% fail on their first attempt (2005).

Costs of All Remediation

In a recent study on The Costs and Benefits of Remedial Education done at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Elizabeth Barnett writes that approximately $1 to 2 billion or roughly one to two percent of the total higher education expenditures is spent annually on all remedial education with estimates that taxpayers are paying about half the cost of all remedial courses (Barnett, 2002).

The financial benefits of remedial education are clear: "If only one-third of the students taking at least one remedial course earned a bachelor's degree, they would generate more than 74 billion in federal taxes and 13 billion in state and local taxes, while costing the taxpayer about one billion to remediate. Furthermore, the graduation rate for remedial students would have to drop below the one percent level before taxpayers would see a net loss on investment" (Spann, 2000, p.1).

Demand for Math Remediation

Although the financial benefits appear conclusive, the field of developmental education has been somewhat shrouded in controversy. The controversy regarding remediation surrounds the fact that so much of it involves reteaching students math they should have effectively learned in their K-12 education. The situation speaks strongly to what many have termed a crisis in American math education. The recent report of the Business and Higher Education Forum titled "A Commitment to America's Future: Responding to the Crisis in Mathematics and Science Education" reflects this conclusion (Baker, Smith, Swanson, 2005). Citing key data points, the report "warns that if current trends continue the United States will lose its (sic) preeminence in science and technology and its leadership position in innovation" (Ehrlich, 2005).

In New York State the crisis also appears evident. For the last few years, the problems and ongoing changes in the structure of K-12 math education together with the problems with student performance on the NYS Regents exams have regularly been showcased in major news media. Given the current national and statewide problems in K-12 mathematics, we can expect that the demand for developmental math education to be remain strong, conservatively, at least for the next few years to come.