Policy article on pathways and MLCS

This week, a new policy article releases on reforms in developmental math, including pathways like Math Literacy for College Students.  Rock Valley College's Math Literacy course using the text Math Lit is one of several reforms highlighted in the piece.  A full copy of the article is linked below.

From the Learning Works website:

"Experiments to reverse low community college completion rates by redesigning the remedial math most students must take are yielding promising results, defying assumptions about the kind of math students really need.  Changing Equations highlights a new movement in a growing number of the nation’s community colleges to prioritize statistics and quantitative reasoning, a major departure from the traditional one-size-fits-all remedial math sequence that emphasizes intermediate algebra.

Early results – including a dramatic jump from 6 to 51 percent in the proportion of students completing college-level math in their first year of college — are lending credence to the theory that the alternative pathways are better tailored to academic majors that don’t require intermediate algebra. About a quarter of California’s 112 community colleges, as well as numerous colleges in at least a dozen other states, have begun to develop these alternatives for non-STEM (science, technology, engineer, and math) students.

The alternative math pathways supplement other remedial math reforms that colleges and college systems have been pursuing for several years – including changes to instructional practices as well as placement policies.

This brief was written for LearningWorks by Pamela Burdman, a nationally recognized education policy analyst, philanthropy professional, and journalist."