SGER: College Level SMET Course Taking Pattern and High School Mathematics Curricula

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The College Level SMET Course Taking Pattern and High School Mathematics Curricula project seeks to conduct preliminary research on the effects of standards-based mathematics curricula on post-secondary STEM achievement and course-taking patterns of students at colleges and universities in Minnesota. An outgrowth of the Local Systemic Change initiative, the current pilot study on student outcomes of Minnesota high school graduates attending the Twin Cities Campus of the University of Minnesota, which involves more than 5,000 students from almost 250 high schools, has uncovered complexities in data collection methodology. As the project prepares for a statewide study to involve 25 institutions of higher education (IHEs), complexities with data collection need immediate attention. The opportunity exists now to address these complexities while data are available, particularly at small rural high schools, and while the partner IHEs are poised to collaborate. The conditions for accomplishing the study on mathematics curricula effects at the postsecondary level on a statewide level are unprecedented. A SGER grant will allow the Investigator to proceed with this important research to determine whether there are detectable differences in college mathematics performance by students with traditional and standards-based high school curriculum backgrounds.