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A new report examines how faculty members and administrators at public institutions in California have worked to implement legislation to eliminate most developmental math courses and to use new ways to determine placement into college-level courses.
The paper by Richard Lee Colvin, an education writer, is based on interviews with math department chairs and professors at the state's community colleges and California State University campuses. It was commissioned by the Precision Institute of National University, in collaboration with the National Laboratory for Education Transformation.
Recommendations from the report, which is titled "The Math Problem: Removing the Math Barrier to College Completion," include calls for the use of data, appropriate assessments, professional development for faculty members and more resources for both systems as they bulk up tutoring capacity and move to corequisite courses.
"California’s political and educational leaders have made bold and potentially risky policy changes in developmental education, showing that they’re serious about eliminating at least one of the barriers to academic success," the report concludes. "But this is only one element of what must become a comprehensive agenda for improving student learning and completion rates. All institutions of higher education in the state, including private colleges, must be persuaded to dedicate their efforts to the cause."
