Levelling the Community College Playing Field: Increasing Student Odds Over Sequential English and Math Courses

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: Math Pathways and Student Success in Higher Education

Abstract

Factors have been found to be associated with student success in college, including personal characteristics, such as race and gender; variables about the high-school from which a students graduate, like the percent of students on free or reduced lunch programs, average ACT scores, and urbanicity; and if college classes are taken online. Researchers developed this study to determine if any of these factors, individually or in combination, predict whether community college students pass college-level English and math courses. To this end, logistic regression modeling was performed. Results showed that there was little value in combining variables. The relationship between individual variables and student success, though, and how these changed over course sequencing revealed important information to help inform instructional practices.

Authors

• Kelly Birchfield, Alabama Community College System

• David T. Marshall, Auburn University