Developmental Mathematics Education

Problem Statement

The issue is developmental mathematics education at community colleges lack effective teaching strategies, which causes a low success rate and high attrition

Theoretical Frame

This study is grounded in a triple theoretical frameworks of transformative learning, Andragogy and constructive-development theories to help explore the effectives of teaching strategies in developmental mathematics education.

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to rigorously evaluate the teaching strategies used for teaching learners enrolled in developmental mathematics education. An experimental and assessment design will be utilized to examine the association of various groups of learners who will partake a pilot project examining teaching approaches.

Introduction

Developmental mathematics education is one of the utmost challenging course facing community colleges. Majority of community college educators are not technically equipped to teach developmental mathematics in community colleges. Also, learners enrolling in community colleges have ill-prepared educational proficiencies with a need to get a certificate, a degree, or to relocate to an institution of four years (Cafarella, 2013). Students are frequently examined in English proficiencies and mathematics with the utilization of unique placement assessment (Bailey, & Cho, 2010). Frequently, colleges have not coordinated their developmental syllabus with their level of college syllabus, leaving learners puzzled (Anderson, 2017). The lack of syllabus alignment forms involuntary obstacles for learners. In addition reduction of finances has increased challenges for colleges endeavoring to correctly execute developmental learning approaches because of the high expense to colleges for these developmental plans (Quarles, & Davis, 2016). Regulation architects and college administrators face the hard role of directing efforts of colleges to support learners with lack of proficiency using the historical methods accessible in developmental plans (Bettinger, Boatman, & Long, 2013). Learners with a deficiency in appropriate academic proficiencies endeavor to navigate the difficulty of the developmental learning system (Gerstein, 2009). Some learners, unfortunately, do not gain accomplishment in developmental education and give up on the college. Initiations of new schemes of support have been made by some colleges offering intense educational support with the level of college math courses.

For the past two decades, the teaching strategies that aid in acquirement of essential proficiencies in math and the function they perform in the educational development of learners have been subjects of debate for higher education instructors (Brady, 2015; Waiwaiole, 2016). Duration and manner that these teaching strategies are obtained could impact not only the growth of learners but the organization and the economic aspects (Stigler, Givvin, & Thompson, 2011). The amount of resources and teaching techniques assigned to the developmental education of underprepared learners not only assists in financial management of organizations but also aids in the universal competitiveness of the nation (Rivera, 2013). The teaching method distress has amplified over the years to a stage of obtaining attention nationally. In reaction, assertions have been made for math and science teaching techniques to be made a national concern if the nations are ready for the 21st-century demands.

The sufficiency of math proficiencies is a growing priority among proprietors and instructors through the higher learning setting (Benken, Ramirez, Li, &Wetendorf, 2015). In the fields of scientific study like engineering and technology degrees, the techniques and methods utilize by the tutors necessitate that fundamental proficiencies of learners enrolling in these areas be tough to form the start. For instance, Calculus persists to offer a challenge for engineering learners who, in many instances, are achieving below 50 percent (Martinez, 2017). When these learners are enrolled in college, the disquiet for math sufficiency becomes bigger as their proficiencies are instantly put to the assessment (Bonham, &Boylan, 2012). Mathematics learners persist to have challenges with the learning techniques that originate principally from inadequate teaching approaches and an inability to affect the proper math learning approaches to resolve their success endeavors.

It has been asserted that lack of learners' awareness for college-stage assignments has confirmed to be an essential hindrance to completion of the degree. Over forty percent of freshmen from college finish at least one developmental mathematics classes in their learning term (Bradford, 2018; Cullinane, & Treisman, 2010). This is despite the fact that the institutes of higher learning have not attained a nationwide agreement on how to evaluate requirement knowledge or how to position learners into remedial assignment (Higher Education for Higher Standards, 2016). There is rising disquiet on sufficient mathematics readiness, specifically in approaches of teaching math courses, and science (Dreyfus, 2015; Atuahene, & Russell, 2016). Insufficient teaching techniques in remedial math readiness and deficient in understanding the approaches utilized are contributors to the failure of learners (Park, Woods, Hu, Jones, & Tandberg, 2017). Although a lot of learners enrolled in higher learning ill-equipped for math of college level, some efforts have been undertaken to enhance their capability to continue (Kee, 2013). The Center for Community College Student Engagement proposed that there exist a connection amongst the victorious conclusion of at most one remedial class when the learner gets a C or good in addition to enhanced results (Martinez, 2017). Nevertheless, making learners to look for assistance with their proficiency shortages and to practically connect with accessible approaches is a continuous difficulty for instructors. It has been found out that three out of ten developmental learners never register in developmental classes and less than fifty percent of those who join do not finish the whole sequence of the course (Zeidenberg, Scott, & Jenkins, 2012). In spite of the difficulties coming from poor teaching strategies, students have revealed that organizationally consented developmental involvements could be in the finest concern of learners. To enhance the efficiency of intercession, it is essential to ascertain which techniques are most influential to the learners' developmental achievement and persistence.

Literature Review

From the starting of United States higher learning, establishments have been serving ill-equipped learners. Historically teachers assisted under-equipped college learners. The University of Wisconsin executed the country's initial formal college preparatory plan to help learners in reading, writing, and math (Anderson, 2017). The model was adopted by other establishments and as a result, more organizations started to focus on scholar growth while remediating learners (Bonham, & Boylan, 2012). Every year, establishments offer services to a great number of remedial math learners. These learners, in general, enter the developmental math course grounded on the outcomes of their college positioning assessment. Learners who position in remedial math class account learning less in high school and lesser GPAs that their associates who position in college-stage courses (Travers, 2017). Remedial math learners who are unproductive also exhibit poor attending and are incapable of keeping up with the course (Kautz, 2016). A lot of these failed learners also anticipate math unease and seem unmotivated in addition to not engaging with their associates or the teacher (Kishawi, 2015). A lot of community colleges lack effective teaching approaches on remedial mathematics resulting in low achievement rate and high attrition. Thus this review addresses the teaching approaches that community colleges lack in employing best activities for remedial math learners.

Curriculum Reform and Non-cognitive factors

A principal confront to class redesign was plan evaluation activities that hardly looked at what ensued to learners between the course periods. Through the projects of study, learners demonstrate a lack of progress (Brower, Woods, Jones, & Park, 2017). Before quantitative study centered on pass percentage of individual classes, instead of longitudinal cohort researches that spanned the extent of college plans. Key to the syllabus math amendment was the development of hastened math paths that associated developmental with precise college-stage mathematics necessities employed by learners (Harshbarger, 2016). Academics have demonstrated that community college learners who positioned three ranks lesser their initial acknowledgment bearing math class have an inappropriately stumpy pass percentage in their remedial mathematics classes (Spain, 2015). The figures of a few learners passing their remedial classes are alarming and much work is required to raise developmental math class completion. A fresh theoretical scheme directed to raising entry math class completion is better outlined as three-legged chair, as a means to visualize the association of the factors (Mireles, 2010). The stool was the entry or college stage mathematics class, and the feet of the chair that holds the stool were remedial math, education maintenance, and learning maintenance amenities.

Academics have recognized non-cognitive aspects that associate to success in mathematics. Developmental teachers should not ignore the sensational obstacles to success in mathematics (Prescott, 2017; Khine, 2016). Amongst the sentimental factors recognized in the literature were learners' learning individual-concepts, outlook toward achievement in mathematics, confidence in their capability to learn math, uneasiness in math, assessment uneasiness, opinions of the usefulness of math, inspiration, self-worth, in addition to the locus of regulation (Steltenpohl, 2012). Collaborative education strategy has produced a better outlook for conquering adverse conducts towards education on math for learners where they work in little groupings making forecasts across the utilization of possibility presumption.

Supplemental Instruction

The lack of utilization of supplemental instructions, an academic support strategy where peer helps each other in learning and in study sessions could lead to the low success rate and high attrition (Bell, 2008). The supplemental instructions plan incorporates academic proficiencies with class contentment in a sequence of associate-assisted sittings that are willingly convened by learners admitted in the remedial math classes (Phelps, & Evans, 2006). Each supplemental instruction is guided by a senior learner who was earlier triumphant in the lesson and possesses good inter-individual experiences (Mireles, Offer, Ward, & Dochen, 2011). The leader should not be a teacher or teaching staff; he/she should be accountable for assisting conversation around class contentment and associated math proficiencies. The head as well prepares learning practices like worksheets, group activities, exercises of problem resolving, or assessment of their group learners (Altomare, & Moreno, n.d.). The learners who attend the supplemental instruction classes work jointly educating each other on the class content and resolving challenges. Leaders as well partake in the procedure through note taking, reading class requirements, lectures attendance, and showing efficient learning proficiencies.

Academic Support

As a strategy of enhancing success in a developmental math course, a lot of community colleges teaching staff lack academic support amenities that lessen student attrition. A lot of aspects seem to impact the degree of retention (Brower et al., 2017). Amongst these are learner notion of advancement toward an educational professional objective, a high rank of course-learner interaction, and individual counseling and educational advising plans, as well as a common upgrading of learning facilities, also raised retention (Bailey, 2009). Permitting learners to access supplemental instruction initial in the semester and in their remedial class series offers learners higher results and completions in college-stage mathematics (Dias, Cunningham, & Porte, 2016). Learners comprehend better results in college-stage mathematics when supplemental instruction is joined directly to the class, when learners do not observe supplemental instruction as a developmental plan, when supplemental instruction meetings are planned to have high stages of learner association and sustain, in addition to when supplemental instruction meetings were led by competent department.

The primary constituents of an achievement supplemental instruction plan comprise of a department, supplemental instruction heads, and an expanded learning entity (Flek, Cunningham, & Baker, 2015). A great deal of the achievement of supplemental instruction plans relies on the association of these groupings. Some researches of supplemental instruction plans accounted for an impact on learning success centered on traditions (Martinez, 2017). Nevertheless, a small number of reported researches assessed the partnership among demographic and educational preparation aspects to educational success in community colleges (Heaney, & Willford, n.d.). Research aimed at stand-in the study literature gap assessed the partnership among learner demographics and educational organization, department and supplemental instruction associate demographics, stages of partaking in supplemental instruction, and educational success (Malm, Bryngfors, & Mörner, 2011). The strongest associate to the final class score was before GPA (grade point average). After regulating for the impacts of contribution demographics, the highest analyst of a higher ultimate class score was the number of supplemental instruction meetings convened. The study established that the effect of both demographic and educational organization aspects ought to be considered when assessing the efficiency of supplemental instruction plans on community colleges.

Student Assessment and Placement

The strategy of student assessment and placement is an effective teaching approach that impacts success rate and attrition. Two requirements are evident when learners thrived in classes and plans: the completion of prerequisite classes and proper evaluation of learners' achievement (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013). Evaluating learners' achievement in prerequisite classes is a quite direct procedure for assessing scores (Deka, & Lieberman, 2013; Armington, 2002). Nevertheless, positioning a learner using evaluation for positioning procedure was essentially more intricate, hence positions cannot be made centered on evaluation exam grades alone (Mireles, Offer,Ward, & Dochen, 2011). A number of learners could have challenges in showing required proficiencies on a single positioned exam (Sinay, & Nahornick, 2016). Restricting evaluation to a positioned exam, a test with content and proficiencies queries from various classes in a syllabus series symbolizes a solitary and probably inappropriate assessment of learner organization for college assignments (Howard, 2007). Proper positioning of community college learners by positioning them in relevant classes within plans is essential for raising learner achievement (Quarles, & Davis, 2016). Properly planned positioning regulations comprise accurately evaluating learner proficiencies and positioning them in the required classes, having reliable averages through colleges, and offering equivalent statistics on learner results.

In conclusion, the task of evaluating the aspects that affect scholar achievement in remedial mathematics education is an ongoing exploration for each faculty of higher learning. Lessening the adverse impacts of some aspects while encouraging the application of best activities, could go a long way in enhancing the academic practices of remedial math learners (Martinez, 2017). One of the means of aligning the organizational anticipations with learner success is by motivating scholars to efficiently utilize present resources.

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