It Works - The De Anza Success Story
Developmental Math is the single greatest barrier to college success. Each year, more than two million entering college students fail the entrance exam and must take one or more courses with typical failure rates of 50% in each course.
De Anza College, in Cupertino, California, has been employing the EnableMath College Developmental Math Program with its developmental math students since 2005 and has achieved extraordinary results, both in terms of improved pass rates and in retention of students participating in the program.
The Fall 2006 Study.
In the fall of 2006 a comprehensive study was undertaken. Approximately 500 students were enrolled in EnableMath sections of one of the three developmental math courses. The results showed in extraordinary improvement in outcomes for participating students:
13-16 percentage point jump in student retention in the class!
14-25 percentage point jump in course pass rates!
21-27 percentage point jump in course pass rates among African-American, Latino and Filipino students!
Popular with Students - For Good Reason
The table above shows a difference in grade point average of more than a half point in every course. It is not surprising that the program is popular with students. Surveys of students in the EnableMath program indicated a very strong preference for this approach. A significant majority agreed or strongly agreed in a post course survey that they learned more math in the EnableMath courses.
Anne Leskinen, the Dean of the Division credits the popularity of EnableMath classes to the team approach and the hands-on, visual learning style. "They find it more interesting," she says. "The whole experience is more effective because you don't just listen for a week and take a quiz-which may be too late. Students are more in the present with the class, and they feel like they have a cadre of individuals trying to help them."
Susan Dean, a long time member of the math faculty and the first to use the EnableMath program at De Anza agrees, "Students clamor to get into the EnableMath sections, because of the success of other students and because it really organizes things for them and they develop better habits and better problem-solving."
EnableMath has also become popular with instructors. "Looking at teaching math traditionally and teaching it this way, I just think this is better for these students," agrees Dean. "They do homework until they understand it. I would never go back to a traditional classroom and teaching just out of a book for this type of student."
