In the
Weeds
A practitioner's perspective on math, education & change.
Corequisite remediation is a concept; It’s not a formula
Currently, multiple states have mandates or laws that affect the number of remediation colleges can offer and the placement approaches used. My state (IL) has legislation, but there's still a lot of choice for colleges within it.
Boosting student momentum in a distracted world
I can’t imagine being a college student today. Not only are there many distractions, such as personal and professional setbacks and opportunities, but there are pandemics, world events, and so forth. It’s no shock, especially with everything happening around them, that enrollment is down, and colleges are struggling to fill seats.
Math Redesign: evolution - Not Revolution
If you worked on a math redesign of any kind last year and you didn't reach your goal, that's not unusual. Change with such considerable elements takes a lot of people, resources, and time. The secret is to just keep going. Redesign is an evolution, not a revolution.
State Developmental Education Reforms
Research has indicated that college and university developmental math programs, as they currently are, produce poor results with low student success rates. To address this, state legislators are intervening, creating policies that range from support for reform to mandated approaches. In this post, let’s look at a few states executing developmental education practices through laws or mandates.
Education Reform: How Faculty Engagement Moves the Needle
Higher education is typically in a state of reform. With the pandemic, that has only accelerated. When initiatives for change are enacted, having stakeholders at the forefront is critical to the amount of the time needed for the initiative and its success. Which stakeholders have the most influence on success or failure of higher ed initiatives? Faculty.
Developmental Math and Equity
Developmental math in its traditional form poorly serves students who need it the most. These are the students who have the greatest challenges to overcome, often through circumstances beyond their control. For as much as has been done in this arena, there are still so many issues with developmental math. And those problems are only worse when we drill down in the data and disaggregate it.
Minorities in STEM
We need to be cognizant that we and our students have different cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds and work to shape our instruction to be inclusive. In this week’s blog, we take a look at the racial and ethnic gap in the STEM workforce in the United States
SAT - Why All the Controversy? Part 2
While some colleges may not be using test scores, these scores do have their uses for K-12 schools. Because of that, the SAT and other standardized tests will not go away because they do have their uses. Here's a look at why the SAT stands the test of time.
SAT - Why All the Controversy? Part 1
High school students around the country are gearing up to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). For college-bound students, it is a right of passage, a way to compare with others, and one more way to get into the college of choice. But the SAT has come under fire lately with many colleges around the country adopting a “test optional” or a “‘test blind” policy for admissions.