This study determined that the addition of Structured Learning Assistance (SLA) attendance increased passage rates (from 66.5% to 82%) of first year students in English 101 courses. The model predicts first year students' performance in college writing, controlling for variables such as American College Test scores, and gender. A…

Many developmental mathematics programs at community colleges in recent years have undergone a process of redesign in an attempt increase the historical poor rate of student successful completion of required developmental coursework. Various curriculum and instructional design models that incorporate methods of avoiding and accelerating the…

This study compares the results of a developmental co-requisite program with those of a traditional pre-requisite program in an attempt to determine whether the two models provide equivalent levels of effectiveness and efficiency. The research focused on gateway course completion scores and final exam scores for undergraduate students enrolled in…

General Chemistry is a high impact course at Benedictine University where a large enrollment of ~250 students each year, coupled with low pass rates of a particularly vulnerable student population from a retention point of view (i.e., first-year college students), make it a strategic course on which to focus innovative pedagogical development.…

One primary goal of many science courses is for students to learn creative problem-solving skills; that is, integrating concepts, explaining concepts in a problem context, and using concepts to solve problems. However, what science instructors see is that many students, even those having excellent SAT/ACT and Advanced Placement scores, struggle in…

Acid-base chemistry is central to a wide range of reactions. If students are able to understand how and why acid-base reactions occur, it should provide a basis for reasoning about a host of other reactions. Here, we report the development of a method to characterize student reasoning about acid-base reactions based on their description of…

This study examined the impact of high school students' graphing calculator usage on their math achievement over time. Achievement growth was measured using nationally-recognized standardized test scores from EXPLORE, PLAN, and ACT. Two groups of students were used in this study; one group had graphing calculators integrated beginning in…

This study assessed whether and how self-explanation reading training, provided by iSTART (Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking), improves the effectiveness of comprehension processes. iSTART teaches students how to self-explain and which strategies will most effectively aid comprehension from moment-to-moment. We used…

This article discusses our university's attempt to analyze whether our system of First Year Writing placement serves the needs of our diverse student body. The theory behind Directed Self Placement (DSP) is appealing, so our program adopted a modified version of it, and after several years, decided to evaluate it quantitatively. The authors, a…

There is an abundance of research associated with the belief that factors such as educational expenditures, socioeconomic demographics, geographic location, district size and school funding have a relationship to student achievement. This study provides insight into the relationship between these factors and the effect it has on student academic…

The move from general chemistry to organic chemistry can be a challenge for students as it often involves a transition from quantitatively-oriented to mechanistically-oriented thinking. This study found that the design of the general chemistry course can change the student experience of this transition as assessed by a reflective survey. The…

Determining student readiness for gateway chemistry courses and providing underprepared students effective remediation are important as student bodies are growing increasingly diverse in their precollege preparation. The effectiveness of the ACT Mathematics Test and the Whimbey Analytical Skills Inventory (WASI) in predicting student success in…

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the Emporium instructional method in a course of college algebra and trigonometry by comparing to the traditional lecture method. The math emporium method is a nontraditional instructional method of learning math that has been implemented at several universities with much success and has been…

This study describes student behavior through the actual assessment and placement (A&P) process. It then uses an alternative A&P policy that utilizes an additional measure that assesses prior math preparedness alongside subtest choice. Utilizing data from a community college that allows its' students to choose the assessment subtest used…

This project describes the results from a large enrollment introductory psychology course specially designed to improve performance of first-year students. The main objective of the project was to identify early indicators of student success to inform future teaching and promote classroom engagement. Variables representing academic preparation,…