June is a time to celebrate our students’ achievements as they walk across the graduation stage. Many have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles but had persisted because of the possibilities that their education could offer. We congratulate you on the contributions you made to each of your student’s success!
The end of the academic year allows us to reflect on our own achievements. This spring alone, the DCMP work has spread to several states on their implementation of mathematic pathways:
Workshops on math pathways topics, including pedagogy and co-requisite structures, in Arkansas, Illinois, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin
Transfer and applicability policy and implementation work in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington to encourage students to continue their postsecondary education without losing credits
Webinars on how to engage partner disciplines in conversations about the right math for each program of study
Presentations at Texas Association of Academic Administrators in the Mathematical Sciences (TAAAMS), Mathematical Association of America (MAA) – Texas, Texas Acceleration Institute, Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics (TPSE), American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), League for Innovation, Texas Pathways Project Institute, Texas Community College Teachers Association (TCCTA), and National Association of System Heads (NASH)
Thanks to all of our partners, colleagues, and friends for a successful year. We look forward to working with all of you in the months ahead, as we seek to ensure that ALL students will be prepared to use mathematical reasoning skills in their careers, enabled to make timely progress towards completion of a credential, and empowered as mathematical learners.
Have a wonderful summer!
Martha Ellis, Interim Director
Higher Education Services
What's New
Math in the Real World: Early Findings from a Study of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways Audience: Math departments, faculty, and advisors
The Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness, led by MDRC and Community College Research Center (CCRC), just released a research brief containing early findings from their randomized study of Dana Center Mathematics Pathways. The findings are encouraging: Students enrolled in Dana Center curriculum based on the DCMP model "are having qualitatively different classroom experiences from those of students in traditional developmental math courses and are enrolling in and passing these courses at higher rates." Students responded that participating in the Foundations for Mathematical Reasoning course made them more confident in their math ability and more interested in math in general, while teaching them how to struggle through problems.
These early findings show the contrast in student experience from just one semester of using the Dana Center curriculum. We look forward to the completed study, which will follow students for one to two years after enrolling in their developmental math coursework. The final report will shed light on differences in college level course completion, degree completion, persistence as well as a cost analysis.
Calling All STEM Professionals:
Join the Calculus Career Connections Video Project
Is there a computer scientist in your book club? Does an actuary coach your child’s soccer team? Have you worked with an amazing student who went on to lead an environmental engineering firm?
The DCMP is looking for STEM professionals to talk about their work for a video component of our pathway to calculus courses, Reasoning with Functions I and Reasoning with Functions II. Each 5-minute video will show STEM professionals making connections between their work and topics such as geometric reasoning, trigonometry, modeling with functions, rates of change, and covariational reasoning.
Please complete this self-nomination form and watch the trailer below.
What We Are Reading
Why You Should Care About Remedial Math
In this opinion piece, Alexandra Logue provides a compelling case for why partner disciplines should care about mathematics pathways. She shares her research on the numerous impacts resulting from students’ not completing remedial math.
“Graduating from college will, on average, significantly enhance the quality of life of these students and their families. Students who do not obtain a degree earn less, are more likely to default on their student debt, pay fewer taxes, are less healthy and are more likely to go to prison -- all of which can harm not only the students and their families themselves but also hurt you as a taxpayer.” At Cal State, Algebra Is a Civil Rights Issue
In an EdSource op-ed piece, Christopher Edley, Jr., explains how intermediate algebra is a civil rights issue by examining a recent transfer change by the California State University that will impact many transferring community college students.
Edley points out "that this a civil rights legal problem for state higher education . . . because, outside of specific majors such as engineering, intermediate algebra skills are not required for success in college. In fact, popular college math courses like Statistics do not require intermediate algebra. Studies show that the very same students, whose futures are threatened by algebra policies, can pass a rigorous college-level statistics course without knowing intermediate algebra."
Spotlight Resource
Our DCMP Work at the State Level Audience: General
Upcoming opportunity to join us in learning about mathematics pathways:
The Dana Center is going big at MAA MathFest in Chicago! We have a joint panel with the Carnegie Foundation, a Themed Contributed Paper session featuring 12 papers, and individual sessions. Expect event details coming soon.
There’s still time to register for the conference!
Whether you want to stay more connected with the DCMP or you want to learn more about the Dana Center’s K–12 work and our initiatives supporting underserved students, you’ll want to check our Twitter feed.
