Placing More Freshmen into College-level Mathematics Courses

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Placing More Freshmen into College-level
Mathematics Courses
Helmut Knaust Director, CircLES Program
Associate Dean of the Colleges of Science and
Engineering
April 5, 2003
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Overview of Presentation

• UTEPs Science and Engineering Program
• CircLES and MIE at UTEP
• Summer Orientation
• Math Placement
• Evaluation and Assessment
• Reference and Acknowledgements

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Fall 2001 Enrollment

• 16,224 students
• 2,010 in Engineering
• 904 in Science
•   2,914 or 18 of total enrollment
• Fall 2002 Enrollment
• 17,232 students

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UTEPs Model for STEM Student Success
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TimeLine
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Goals

• The goal of the CircLES program is to ...
• increase student retention
• improve their academic performance
• add value to their college education

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Structure
CLUSTERS
STUDENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
ORIENTATION
ADVISING
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CircLES - One Week-Long Orientation
CONNECTIONS TO UNIVERSITY SERVICES
DEVELOPMENTAL MATH REVIEW AND PLACEMENT
RESEARCH MODULES(Science or Engineering)
STUDY SKILLS
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Math Review

• Duration 3 days, 2 hours each day
• Students solve math problems in small groups of 4
  or 5 students
• Math review is led by peer facilitators
• The accompanying text focuses on short
  explanations and practice problems
• After the math review is complete, students
  retake UTEPs math placement exam

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Placement Before and After Math Review
Before After Math Review 2001(n359)
Before After Math Review 2002 (n386)
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2002 Math Review Mathematics Course Taken by
Students Initially Placing into Intro to Algebra
(n78)
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2002 Math Review Math Course Taken by Students
Initially Placing into Intermediate Algebra
(n146)
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2002 Math Review Mathematics Course Taken by
Students Initially Placing into Pre-Calculus
(n111)
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Pre-Calculus Passing rate
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Intermediate Algebra Passing rate
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Reference

• Benjamin C. Flores, Jana Renner Martínez, Helmut
  Knaust, Ann Darnell, Lilly Romo, and Connie Kubo
  Della-Piana
• The Effectiveness of a Mathematics Review for
  Student Placement into College-Level
  Mathematics.
• Submitted to Proceedings of the 2003 American
  Society for Engineering Education Annual
  Conference Exposition, 2003.

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All Questions Answered,All Answers Questioned
Borrowed from Donald Knuth