DESCRIPTION

Glendale Community College has a  college-wide process for developing Student 
Learning Outcomes.  Many departments have a good working knowledge of 
SLOs, and faculty who are developing SLOs meet twice a month. The math 
faculty began their discussing learning assessment  during an annual three-day 
retreat.  They examined data on student passing rates in math courses , student 
success  in transfer-level  courses, and other issues related to  improving 
program delivery and increasing student success. They looked at the value of 
the math diagnostic test, which has proven an effective way to find students at 
the beginning of the semester who are at-risk for failing a class. They also 
analyzed more than one hundred twenty  transcripts of students who had taken  
Pre-Algebra to determine student course histories.

The faculty also studied  the results from the  Intermediate Algebra final  exam  
that has been used by all faculty since Fall 2000. They looked at the course 
sections for a correlation between the mean grade on the final and the mean 
GPA for the course that might be due to differences in grading among the faculty. 
The greatest difference was found in the grading by adjunct faculty, who gave 
higher course grades compared to exam grades. They also had higher 
enrollment and course retention rates.  Adjunct faculty are no longer  letting as 
many marginal student who perform poorly on the final pass the course. 

Faculty members compare the mean exam grade and GPA for their sections to 
the exam and GPA mean for the course. They can also compare the 
performance of their students to the course mean on each item of the exam. If 
their students under-perform as a group, an instructor can adjust the emphasis 
and pacing of the various topics in the course. 

Finally, the math department is tracking the  success of students who take the 
one semester Intermediate Algebra course  versus the two semester course 
(Math 101 and Math 120).  The department is also looking at the outcomes for 
students who pass Math 101 and 120 and subsequently take one or more of the 
transfer  level math classes . A research paper on the math department’s  study 
on student outcomes  is expected  in Fall 2004.

RESOURCES FOR DOWNLOAD

• >> Math 101 Common Final Disseminated Results  (Excel, 227.00 KB)

TARGET STUDENTS

• New Students
• Students in High Risk Courses
• Students Intending to Transfer
• Basic Skills Students