Getting Through the Gateway: Can Corequisite Algebra Improve STEM Progress and Degree Attainment at Community and Technical Colleges?

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With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR), this project aims to serve the national interest by broadening participation and institutional capacity for STEM learning at community and technical colleges. According to mathematics placement tests, the majority of beginning students arrive at public two-year colleges under-prepared for college-level mathematics. College-level mathematics is an essential milestone for entering STEM fields and, unfortunately, many students never complete their first college-level math course. The traditional pathway for students who are not ready for college-level math is a sequence of developmental math courses that students must complete before taking college-level math (e.g., Algebra); the developmental courses do not usually receive credit towards a college degree. Corequisite algebra pairs credit-bearing college algebra with a developmental-education support course, with the potential to allow students to more quickly pass their first college-level mathematics course in the STEM sequence. Using Texas state administrative data, this project will examine whether taking corequisite algebra, as opposed to the traditional developmental math sequence, influences the STEM pipeline at community and technical colleges. The goals of the study are to: 1) Estimate the extent to which students who enroll in corequisite math courses are more likely to complete STEM courses and to obtain a certificate or degree than students in traditional developmental education programs; 2) Test which corequisite models offer the largest and smallest improvement in student outcomes, using measures of course design; 3) Examine whether students from various backgrounds (race, gender, socioeconomic status) benefit more or less from corequisite mathematics and illuminate the processes that students follow after success and failure in their corequisite course.To examine the effects of corequisite algebra course enrollment on students' educational outcomes in STEM fields, this project will apply quantitative research methods to Texas state administrative data and course-level information from corequisite courses. The PI will use two complementary methods that strengthen the possibility of making causal inferences about the impact of corequisite algebra on various STEM milestones: regression discontinuity design and difference-in-differences. To adjust for pre-treatment characteristics, the project will use placement cutoff scores and variation in course offerings across colleges to support a rigorous research design. The study will examine the varied effects of corequisite algebra across race, gender, and family income, and study which corequisite models are most effective and for which students. Community colleges and technical colleges educate the majorities of Black, Hispanic, and low-income students in the American higher education system. The study will offer evidence about how corequisite algebra courses impact key outcomes in STEM pathways (Goal 1), which corequisite models are most and least effective and for which students (Goal 2), and whether those effects vary across subgroups (Goal 3). The results will offer practical findings that colleges in Texas and across the country can use as they develop additional corequisite math coursework and seek to improve their output of students in STEM fields. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communitiesThis award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.