Student Success

hands of three students holding calculators

Math Start

Project Status: Monitor/Assess

The Math Start initiative will strive to address various student success metrics for students who test in developmental math courses.  PSU data indicates that full-time first-year students who test at Math 95 or lower persist at a rate 15% lower than their peers. Further, about a third of the students who take Math 95 will not complete the course, and many who do not pass leave PSU without a degree. Additionally, there are equity gaps for Hispanic/Latinx students. The Math Start Initiative aims to determine if there are alternatives to Math 95 at PSU and a viable option for students placed into Math 95 or below to start at college-level math.

Accomplished

  • Secured institutional approval to reform developmental math education by replacing the non-credit bearing Math 95 course with credit bearing, corequisite support models, aligning PSU with national best practices.
  • Offered 2 sections of UNST 199: Qualities in Math Confidence course in the winter term
  • Offered 2 sections of Math 199: Precalculus Support and 1 sections of STAT 199: Statistics Support in the winter term

In Progress

  • Math department launched Google form to aid in the registration of corequisite and parent math course; continuing to determine if the form is working for both students and the math department to manage registration
  • PSU is working with the SCIENCE Collaborative to develop a white paper on math corequisites in university settings
  • Determine the appropriate department for submission of the curriculum request for the Qualities in Math confidence course; with the uncertainty of UNST, the committee is waiting to see what they should do in terms of a permanent home for this course
  • Working on the 2026-2027 schedule of courses and funding for UNST 199

Project Health

Expected deliverables and outcomes include:

  • Design course alternatives to developmental math at PSU
  • Increase the number of students in each section
  • Improve the usage of ALEKS testing
  • Expanded communication efforts to promote the courses and communicate the benefits to students

Factors inhibiting deliverables include:

  • ALEKS Assessment is not required
  • Partnership and collaboration with the Math dept to support the goals and initiatives of Math Start.

Project Team

Sponsor: Matthew Carlson
Lead: Shoshana Zeisman-Pereyo
Team: Matthew Carlson, Andrea Garrity, Allyson Meyers, Steven Boyce, Jodi Stiegemeyer, Eva Thanheiser