Calculus is a stepping stone to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees and careers, but countless college students abandon their STEM ambitions after an encounter with calculus--or to avoid taking the intimidating course altogether. While traditional approaches have focused on prerequisite courses--which often repeat high…

Ensuring that students are ready for college when they graduate from high school has important implications for students, educators, education policymakers, and other stakeholders. This study focuses on an examination of the relationship between the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) grade 12 mathematics assessment and college…

Developmental mathematics, which is designed to prepare students for college-level mathematics courses, can be a barrier to students' success. In the United States, the majority of students placed into developmental mathematics courses fail to complete the developmental sequence. Alternative mathematics pathways offer some benefits when integrated…

Study group meetings (SGMs) are voluntary-attendance peer-led team-learning workshops that supplement introductory biology lectures at a selective liberal arts college. While supporting all students' engagement with lecture material, specific aims are to improve the success of underrepresented minority (URM) students and those with weaker…

The academic performance of first-semester nursing students who attended 5 or more (n=18) or fewer than 5 (n=19) tutorials was compared. A significant relationship was found between grades in prerequisite science courses and first-semester performance. Those who attended fewer tutorials had higher prerequisite course grades. (Contains 17…

This study by the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), California, aims to determine the impact of prerequisite enforcement on retention and course completion rates in English and math courses among underrepresented students. The report analyzed a subset of the more than 300 prerequisite-enforced courses offered by the SDCCD. The course…

A study was conducted at Mount San Antonio College (MSAC), California, to analyze patterns in credit course retention between fall 1986 and spring 1989. The study investigated the development of course prerequisites based on faculty perceptions of the skills necessary for success and minimal skill levels associated with success; student assessment…

A study was conducted at Burlington County College to investigate the relationship between the academic characteristics and course completion of students enrolled in General College Chemistry (CHE 105) in fall 1985. The study involved an examination of students' academic records and a survey of students who did not successfully pass the course. Of…

To extend the analysis of mathematics as the "critical filter" into actual college experience, the influence of high school and college mathematics on choice of majors and progress in the major during college was studied using data from 745 freshmen at Arizona State University. Attention was also directed to an expanded mathematics…

A basic-skills testing remediation model for older, reentry college juniors was studied longitudinally and cross-validated against previous findings. Attention was directed to the rates of academic success and attrition for students entering an upper-division university in 1981 as juniors and seniors and majoring in business administration. The…