Cape Cod Community College adopts new programs to make math go down easier for students

WEST BARNSTABLE — Cape Cod Community College is adopting a new support system to help students complete their college math requirements, often the bane of academic life.

Starting this fall, the college will offer new ways to complete college-level math courses, including a new placement exam that may help students avoid having to take remedial math classes.

Completing college-level math, particularly when students have been placed in remedial math, has been a barrier to equitable student success at community colleges, said Kathleen Vranos, vice president for academic and student affairs.

“The Department of Higher Education in Massachusetts, as well as higher education across the country, has recognized that students' progression in developmental math has not been satisfactory for decades,” she said.

For college admissions, students coming from high school with a GPA below 2.7 must take placement tests for math and English to fulfill their college level requirements. With the college’s new approach, students can now take a new placement test, Aleks PPL instead of Accuplacer.

“Our objective was to ensure that we rethink our approach to help students meet their requirements more successfully,” she said. The Accuplacer test is still available for anyone who wants to stick to the former method.

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“For students who want to progress more efficiently, particularly students who are earning a certificate or associate of science degree, not pursuing a transfer pathway or those not going into a STEM approach, this is a good option,” said Vranos. “We wanted to give them a college level math that they needed, and ensure that they were competent in their statistics, quantitative reasoning and calculus courses. We have redesigned our learning approach to meet students where they are.”

How does the new method work

ALEKS PPL is a research-based, online learning program that determines students’ mathematical knowledge and places them into courses ranging from Mathematical Reasoning and Problem Solving to Calculus; including required courses such as Statistics, and Quantitative Reasoning.

Aleks PPL is different from Accuplacer in that it offers an online personalized learning module. The module allows students to learn and demonstrate mathematical competency that helps them to boost their placement test scores, potentially steering them away from the dreaded remedial math, said Vranos.

Studies have shown that the new test is more equitable when it comes to placing students in the right courses, she said. Aleks PPL provides customized remedial learning segments that a student can use on their own or in conjunction with the Math Learning Center.

Early use of the new placement test showed results where students are moving up one or more levels in their developmental math placement, said Vranos. The math center is providing additional support as well.

“They're moving much more quickly than they had in the past,” said Vranos.

The college is introducing other ways to help students

The college is also taking a new approach that places students directly in college-level coursework, broadens the course material and increases support options for students taking math.

"We have redesigned our math offerings, so that even if students are placed into developmental labs, many of them have the opportunity to still complete college level math in their first year,” said Vranos.

“We also modified our microeconomics and macroeconomics courses that have no prerequisites on them and they will now count as college level math in most majors,” she said.

The college's remedial efforts include a new preparatory course called MAT011: Mathematical Reasoning and Problem Solving that prepares students to take required courses in statistics or quantitative reasoning. Through this system, most students can complete a college-level math course within two semesters instead of three or even four semesters as in the past, Vranos said.

The college also provides math support for students through the '4Cs4U program' where participating students have a team of college staff assigned to them as well as the resources offered by the Math Learning Center. The center is in the new Frank and Maureen Wilkens Science & Engineering Center.

“Our Math Learning Center is open and provides very compassionate, supportive help to students, in person, as well as virtually through our high flex technology,” said Vranos.

Rasheek Tabassum Mujib writes about healthcare and education. Reach her at rmujib@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Community college on Cape Cod shores up math support for students