Comparative effectiveness of selected remediation programs in postsecondary mathematics

A quasi-experimental correlated groups (QCG) model is used to compare the effectiveness of three methods of mathematics remediation available to students at Texas Tech University. The remedial methods compared are large classes with multiple-choice testing, small classes with open-response testing, and a self-paced, self-study program with no testing. The study is limited to traditionally aged students (18-22 years old) who were enrolled in a remedial mathematics program at the university during the spring semester of 1990. Many of these students were enrolled in remedial mathematics because they failed to pass the mathematics portion of the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) exam in the fall of 1989. The QCG model allows students to be matched between groups by several control variables to obtain a degree of experimental control over variations in skills, aptitudes, motivation, and study habits. The variables used for matching were gender, age, TASP math score (if taken), SAT math score, SAT verbal score, and percentile rank in the high school graduating class. The outcome variables used to evaluate the effectiveness of the remedial programs include student retention, repetition of the remedial course, degree of success in regular math courses following remediation, total credit hours earned to date, and overall grade point average. Outcome variables are evaluated not only for the correlated groups sample (N = 78), but for all students who failed the math portion of the TASP exam (N = 80) and for the entire population under study (N = 202). No significant differences between remedial progran:is were found in student retention, repetition of the remedial course, or the degree of success in regular math classes following remediation. The correlated groups sample showed significantly inferior results for the self-paced program in both total credit-hours and overall grade point average. The self-paced students averaged 13.1 credit-hours with a GPA of 0.857, while the large classes averaged 19.8 credit-hours with a GPA of 1.555 and the small classes averaged 29.4 credit-hours with a GPA of 1.598. Similar significant results were found for the entire population. For this reason, the self-paced remediation program was judged to be less effective than the other two methods tested.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Accounting and Information Systems

Grantor dc:publisher

Texas Tech University

Year dc:date.issued

1991

Author dc:creator

• Howland, William Hodge

• Mathematics -- Texas -- Lubbock -- Study and teach

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/2346/22124

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ttu-ir.tdl.org:2346/22124