Productive Persistence and Starting Strong: Integrating Noncognitive Interventions With Practice-Based Evidence Into Developmental Mathematics Courses

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Abstract

Community college developmental math placement is common and predicts negative student outcomes. To ameliorate this, the Carnegie Math Pathways, consisting of two developmental sequences structured around collaborative learning, launched in 2009. This paper reports on a study - Starting Strong - in which groups of Pathways faculty participants co-tested, co-developed, and shared learning on research-based intervention packages targeting students’ Productive Persistence, or behaviors and mindsets conducive to success. Starting Strong engaged researchers and faculty to co-develop interventions and measurement tools, and provided evidence for the importance of addressing students’ Productive Persistence in the first weeks of a course. Rather than aiming for fidelity, this work employs Improvement Science methodologies to adapt interventions across contexts and engage faculty in meaningful professional development.

Authors

• Rachel Beattie, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

• Haley Shannon McNamara, WestEd