Big Bend shows math improvement
Math Instructor Salah Abed helps Big Bend Community College students improve their math skills.
MOSES LAKE - For most students, math is a subject they put off until the last term of college.
Around the nation more students are testing into pre-college level math classes. At Big Bend Community College, 90 percent of students are placed into pre-college level math classes.
The problem is that only about 25 percent of the students go on to enroll in college-level math classes later.
Big Bend's mathematics faculty made a commitment to improve student success in the two major developmental math classes offered, elementary and intermediate algebra.
With funding from the Achieving the Dream Grant, faculty redesigned the classes and hope it leads to student success and an increase in the likelihood of students passing a college level math class.
The initial results of the effort show improvement in student performance with 15 percent more student success in elementary algebra, and 10 percent in intermediate algebra. Students have to receive a C grade or higher to pass.
"We are very encouraged by the increased success and are looking forward to seeing what further improvements can be made for our students," said BBCC president Bill Bonaudi.
In fall of 2010, the mathematics department at Big Bend broke the elementary and intermediate algebra classes into units and allowed students to retake failed tests.
"The students still had the chance to learn from their mistakes, and now since the retakes are a short time after the test and therefore a short time after seeing the material, even if they don't understand the material well at first they have a chance to cement the knowledge while it's still fresh," said BBCC math instructor Salah Abed.
"More importantly, since the material is broken into smaller chunks, we can teach the connections between the individual concepts, allowing the students to better understand each piece and how it fits into the puzzle. Retaking a test of five lessons is considerably less daunting than retaking a test for the entire course."
So far this approach works.
Students enrolled in Elementary Algebra and Intermediate Algebra for fall quarter were more successful than students who previously took these classes in the traditional format.