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

在美国国家科学基金会改善本科STEM教育计划：教育与人力资源（IUSE: EHR）的支持下，该项目旨在通过扩大社区和技术学院STEM学习的参与和机构能力来服务于国家利益。根据数学分班测试，大多数初入两年制公立大学的学生对大学水平的数学准备不足。大学水平的数学是进入STEM领域的一个重要里程碑，不幸的是，许多学生从未完成他们的第一个大学水平的数学课程。对于那些还没有准备好学习大学水平数学的学生来说，传统的途径是在学习大学水平数学之前必须完成一系列的发展性数学课程（例如代数）；发展性课程通常不计入大学学位。同修代数将获得学分的大学代数与发展教育支持课程相结合，有可能让学生更快地通过STEM序列中的第一门大学水平的数学课程。利用德克萨斯州的行政数据，该项目将检查是否采用同修代数，而不是传统的发展数学序列，影响社区和技术学院的STEM管道。该研究的目标是：1)估计参加必修数学课程的学生比传统发展教育课程的学生更有可能完成STEM课程并获得证书或学位的程度；2)使用课程设计的措施，测试哪些共需模型对学生成绩的改善最大和最小；3)检查来自不同背景（种族、性别、社会经济地位）的学生是否或多或少地受益于同修数学，并阐明学生在同修课程中成功或失败后的过程。为了检验同修代数课程注册对STEM领域学生教育成果的影响，本项目将应用定量研究方法对德克萨斯州的行政数据和同修课程的课程水平信息进行分析。PI将使用两种互补的方法，以加强对共条件代数对各种STEM里程碑的影响进行因果推断的可能性：回归不连续设计和差异中的差异。为了调整治疗前的特点，该项目将使用分班分数和各大学课程设置的变化来支持严格的研究设计。该研究将考察共需代数在种族、性别和家庭收入方面的不同影响，并研究哪种共需模型最有效，对哪些学生最有效。社区学院和技术学院为美国高等教育系统中大多数黑人、西班牙裔和低收入家庭的学生提供教育。该研究将提供证据，证明共修代数课程如何影响STEM途径的关键结果（目标1），哪些共修模型最有效，哪些学生最无效（目标2），以及这些影响是否在子组中有所不同（目标3）。研究结果将提供实用的发现，德克萨斯州和全国各地的大学可以利用这些发现来开发额外的必要数学课程，并寻求提高学生在STEM领域的产出。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过机构和社区转型轨道，该计划支持在高等教育机构和学科社区之间转变和改善STEM教育的努力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.