Too many students leave remedial math classes wondering whether they’ll ever make it to graduation. Quantway can change that, argues Aaron Altose, assistant professor of mathematics and Quantway instructor at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland.

Cuyahoga Quantway students, he wrote for Inside Higher Ed, consistently outperform their peers in traditional remediation. In the 2015-16 school year, Cuyahoga Quantway students saw a 75% success/pass rate for Quantway students. In contrast, the national one-year success rate in a traditional development math class averages 29%.

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The Southern California Institute, held on June 14-16 in Rancho Cucamonga, California, brought together attendees from 13 colleges and 3 high schools, and trained over 40 new faculty to teach Statway and Quantway this coming academic year.

The event also included a Pathways orientation and new sessions and workshops, such as our new dual enrollment workshop led by Carnegie Math Pathways and the WestEd Higher Aims team, a partnership to support Statway dual enrollment implementation in California. These sessions facilitated sharing across institutions and provided focused time for teams to build on the work from the first year of implementation and plan for improvements for next year.

As part of the professional learning and enrichment for network members, Carnegie Math Pathways also designed new workshop sessions on collaborative learning strategies and a refresher on productive persistence. The collaborative learning workshop focused on sharing ideas, building comfort and confidence among instructors, and illuminating the benefits of this instructional approach for students.

We also provided an introduction to A3 Thinking—a structured, continuous improvement approach that leads to systemic problem-solving—to support schools tackling institution-wide challenges. During this workshop, we walked administrators and instructors through a strategic assessment exercise to address a particular institutional challenge that teams identified.

The final highlight of the event was our student keynote, Yvonne Chamberlain, who the day of her speech had completed her last final before her graduation from Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC). Yvonne overcame a number of personal struggles, including a difficult childhood and a serious medical condition in adulthood, before returning to college. She’d seen many of her friends earn their degrees and pursue careers, but it didn’t seem attainable for her.

After the birth of her daughter, Yvonne was determined to make a positive change in her life and she enrolled at Mt. SAC. There, Yvonne found her passion in studying history and decided to make it her focus. Yet, to move on to a university, she would need to pass math. She placed into pre-algebra and was advised to consider Statway as an alternative.

Statway proved to be critical not only to helping Yvonne meet her math requirement, but she gained knowledge and understanding meaningful for her field of study.

“I started to make connections between what I was learning in the history program to the analysis of statistical information,” Yvonne said.

Yvonne applied what she learned in Statway to her research on women’s mass incarceration, Native American studies, and education, which inspired her to start a book drive for a local women’s prison in her community. After this project, Yvonne realized that she wanted to minor in Statistics. She feels strongly that “the integrated use of statistical data will help the field of history [be] stronger and help us, as citizens, understand the past better to preserve our future.”

Statway played a vital role in enriching Yvonne’s studies and in her ability to enact change in her community, and she’ll take that with her as she continues her studies at the University of California- Riverside this fall.

Multiple Paths Forward: Diversifying Mathematics as a Strategy for College Success outlines how colleges are creating math pathways that are aligned with students’ programs of study.

Aimed at community college practitioners, this report provides the rationale for diversification, including statements by mathematics associations; definitions of math pathways and research on their impact; learning outcomes associated with specific math pathways; and an analysis of math course-taking patterns in California community colleges.

Key findings include:

• In addition to providing algebra-intensive pathways appropriate for STEM majors, many states have developed options in areas like statistics and quantitative reasoning.
• California has diverse college-level math pathways, particularly in the area of statistics — a quarter of students take a non-algebra math course that can be transferred as a general education course to a four-year university.
• However, most students never take these courses — almost half of students only get as far as remedial math.
• By ensuring that any prerequisite or co-requisite requirements are aligned with students’ major, colleges can ensure that students get farther in math and acquire the skills necessary for career and life.

This report was produced by WestEd, Just Equations, and the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan.

Read the Report

The Carnegie Math Pathways Midwest Institute on April 26-28 drew 70 attendees from 22 colleges across the country. A member of Salish Kootenai College’s administrative leadership said it was inspiring to have a collective conversation with people “we don’t get to see every day,” and to see and hear about all the work taking place at other institutions. The event was indeed intended to be a space for people to share and learn together, and we’re delighted that this intention came through to attendees.

As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we provided professional learning sessions designed to offer time and space for NIC members to improve their practice. We kicked off our professional learning with a full group reflection that opened the floor to thoughts, questions, and concerns and heard a number of moving testimonies during this discussion.

A math faculty member from Madison Technical College shared that the Pathways has been rejuvenating for his teaching career, and advisors from Tacoma Community College shared that gaining a greater understanding of the Pathways programs has helped them better discuss these math alternatives with students.

In later sessions, faculty shared best practices in supporting student group work, and collectively brainstormed culturally relevant topics and scenarios to incorporate in the Statway and Quantway curriculum to better support their students. We gathered more than three pages of lesson suggestions and look forward to engaging the network’s curriculum committees in developing these in the coming months.

Perhaps one of the most notable takeaways from this event was the student experience shared by former Ridgewater College student, Michelle Gay. In sharing her powerful story on the challenges she experienced with education and coming back as an adult student, she highlighted the profound impact Quantway had on her personally and academically.

“Quantway helped provide access to the most precious of opportunities, and completely altered the course of my future,” she said. “I needed a second chance. I got it in Quantway…My self-worth grew as I was encouraged to work through problems, digging deep for understanding.”

Michelle said she finished her transfer degree program and even managed to qualify for national honor roll status, graduating in 2017 with enough confidence to apply to the University of Minnesota.

It is through the stories such as this—and the shared learning by the faculty and administrators within our networks—that inspire us to continue the important work of making the Pathways more accessible to students. We want to thank our faculty mentors, administrative, and the TCU advisory committee members involved in the planning of this event. It is through their work and collaboration that we were able to hold a successful institute.

Our shared aspiration is clear: To transform student learning in mathematics and dramatically increase completion. Together, we are making an impact in our collective mission to provide students a clear pathway to college and career success.

Still, we cannot consider it complete until we can offer these opportunities and outcomes to ALL students. Carnegie Math Pathways and our network partners have come far in the way of breaking down the biggest barrier to college completion. Now, we’re on to the next: affordability.

That’s why, starting this fall, Carnegie Math Pathways is making Quantway and Statway materials available at a low cost to students across the network.

Members of the Carnegie Math Pathways network will now have customized institutional pricing options that maximize affordability for all Statway and Quantway students, further shifting the burden of cost away from students. This new fee structure will significantly increase student access to the research-based curriculum and digital support.

What does this look like?

• Electronic access to the Statway and Quantway workbook and the online student learning platform will start at just $35 per year.
• Statway and Quantway Fundamentals and Bridge course materials are available at no cost to students.
• To help further minimize costs, schools will also have flexibility in how they choose to order, print and distribute student workbooks.

And starting this fall, Carnegie Math Pathways will also offer Statway and Quantway as co-requisite courses, one-term combination courses designed to provide flexible resources for remediation. Keep an eye out for additional enhanced online course offerings launching in 2019!

As the leader in the national movement for remediation reform, we’re thrilled to be the first to provide an evidence-based, affordable pathways curriculum. For more information about the Carnegie Math Pathways network, please contact [email protected].

We look forward to connecting and sharing in our mission to transform learning experiences for all.

Sincerely,

Karon Klipple
Executive Director
Carnegie Math Pathways

It’s uncommon to find Minnesota residents who stay in the state specifically for its bone-chilling winters but Jeffrey Jones, Quantway instructor at Red Lake Nation College, is one of them. Originally from Albuquerque, Jones enjoys living in the North Star State both for its climate and deep commitment to education.

“Minnesota has a higher commitment to educating people than other places,” he said, citing the state’s higher than average ACT test scores as an example.

Jones added that in Minnesota there is a striking disparity in ACT test scores among different student populations, including Native American students like those he teaches, but that Minnesota is also deeply committed to addressing those gaps.

Jones earned his bachelor’s in mathematics from the University of New Mexico and moved to Minnesota in the mid-90s to work for Northwest Airlines (absorbed by Delta Airlines in 2008). He held various jobs in the aerospace industry including working as a machinist and forklift driver.

“I think that’s why I can relate to my students,” he said. “I wasn’t an academic and didn’t think I would be until later on in life.”

He went on to earn an associate of applied science in computer programming from Hennepin Technical College with the intention of finding work in the tech industry. When the dot com bubble burst, however, and jobs in the industry became scarce, Jones recalibrated.

While in college, others had commented on his ability to tutor students, suggesting that teaching might be the right path for him. He returned to school and earned his master’s in teaching from the University of St. Thomas.

He began as a substitute teacher then taught high school math and computer education for 12 years. He is now in his second year at Red Lake.

“I feel like because I’ve been in northern Minnesota in the last five years, teaching mainly Native American students, I’m starting to understand the culture more and where they’re coming from.”

Red Lake Nation College is sponsored by the Red Lake Nation Tribe, and most of its students are part of “the band,” another way of saying they’re part of the Red Lake Nation Tribe. The college is open, however, and also draws students from other tribes such as the local White Earth and Ojibwe tribes.

While Jones is still learning about the local tribes’ cultures he’d had some exposure to Southwestern tribes in Albuquerque.

“Growing up in New Mexico people talked about three cultures of New Mexico; Mexican American, the Anglo and the Native American cultures,” he said.

Jones was born on a reservation and was no stranger to reservation life in New Mexico, with friends and family living on local reservations. Learning the context of where one is teaching, he said, is equally important as the math being taught.

Jones is part of a subgroup of the Curriculum Committee working to create contextualized Pathways lessons for Native American students at tribal colleges and universities such as Red Lake Nation College.

A lesson he is working on will challenge students to examine exponential growth through the historical lens of allotment. Legislation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries allotted land to Native American individuals and their progeny. The lesson will scrutinize the impact of dividing land to heirs over several generations.

Jones will complete his first year of teaching Quantway this spring.

Recently, a mentee approached Faculty Mentor Andre Freeman about how to increase student completion and engagement with online homework. Freeman posed the concern to other Faculty Mentors across the country. The following is a shortlist of strategies that some of our Faculty Mentors and our staff recommend for increasing online homework engagement and completion. We hope they’re helpful to you!

Andre Freeman, Capital Community College:

Discuss TIH or PNL/OCE questions and solutions at the beginning of class and highlight the connection between the in-class and online materials.

Maria Alzugaray & Bridget Dart, SUNY Suffolk Community College:

At Suffolk we are now using the online PNL/OCE grade in Quantway to contribute up to 20 points on each quiz and exam. In the end it makes the online work about 14-15% of the overall grade but the students feel the impact in quiz and exam scores.

There is no separate weighted category. We have noticed that if it’s a separate category students don’t feel the consequences of not doing homework early enough. As soon as they see on quiz 1 that their grade is lower than they want because of lost homework points, they start doing more homework.

The OCE/PNL is 20 points and the quiz/exam has 80 points. Then, we all have slight variation on weights but in my section the course grade is 20% quizzes, 55% exams, and 25% final exam.

I’ve started using this in other classes as well. When students see the points on the quiz/exam it leads to a great conversation about how doing the homework can impact their success. If they did more homework they would likely do better on the exam/quiz questions to start and then have more homework points added on.

From the Carnegie Math Pathways team:

The Productive Persistence team recently compiled all of its learning about increasing homework completion (and attendance) rates into a page on the internal site. It includes tested activities and routines that promote productive academic behaviors, especially attendance and homework completion.

Are there any other effective strategies that you use not listed here? Still have questions? Contact us at [email protected].