Collaborative Research: Transitioning Learners to Calculus in Community Colleges (TLC3): Advancing Strategies for Success in STEM

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Improving student outcomes in mathematics courses in community colleges is important in meeting the nation's demand for college graduates in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Entitled "Transitioning Learners to Calculus in Community Colleges" (TLC3), the project will gather a team of higher education researchers, mathematicians, and mathematics educators to transform institutional approaches to identifying and remedying barriers that impede student progress to and through Calculus II in community colleges. A significant impact of TLC3 will involve supporting instructional improvements aimed at increasing the success of historically undeserved students, particularly underrepresented racial minority (URM) students, thus contributing ultimately to the diversity of the nation's STEM workforce. The broader goal of TLC3 is to build and test theoretical models that predict STEM URM student success in the Developmental to Pre-calculus to Calculus II (DPC2) sequence, based on programs, structures, and instructional strategies in successful programs. The project uses a mixed-methods approach, including a census survey of 948 community colleges and case studies focused on minority-serving institutions. The models will inform the development of a change tool (i.e., the institutional self-assessment), that examines institutional readiness to facilitate successful outcomes for URM students in the DPC2 sequence. Five institutions selected from a TLC3 networked community (with a minimum of 50 institutions) will test the models and self-assessment tool. The institutional self-assessment tool will help identify a professional development approach that departments and institutions can use to remedy barriers that inhibit student success in the DPC2 sequence. This project is supported by NSF's Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program (IUSE) and the EHR Core Research (ECR) Program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field.