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The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Florida Senate Bill 1720 on student performance in Mathematics. Prior to its enactment, placement testing was mandatory in the State of Florida. The results determined if a student was required to enroll in any developmental courses prior to enrolling in college-level Mathematics courses. For many students, particularly those at the State College level, this extended the number of required courses, lengthening the path to completion for a volume of students. The results over time proved a costly burden on institutions that serve populations of students not prepared to perform at the college-level, as well as a major obstacle for student degree completion. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Statement of the Problem The national six-year graduation rate is less than 60 percent. This alarming yet consistent feature of higher education has led researchers like Bean (1980), Tinto (1975, 1993), Astin (1993), Adelman (1999), Braxton (2000) and DesJardins (2002) to create a body of research which attempts to explain the causes of student attrition and suggest possible interventions. Learning Communities and Freshman Experience courses are two efforts to improve retention which are derived from this research. The purpose of this study was to test portions of Tinto’s longitudinal model of institutional departure that relates academic fit to persistence and degree completion. The study examined placement testing and advising procedures and the effects these procedures have on eventual degree completion. The results of this study should inform the academic community about the efficacy of using a placement test to promote academic fit for first time freshmen enrolled in mathematics courses. Method This quantitative study was an ex-post facto, quasi experimental design which compared three procedures for placement into the initial college mathematics course and the impact on retention and eventual degree completion. The data for this study was obtained from existing data sources. Logistic regression was used to compare the three placement methods and the effect on the odds of eventual degree completion. Results While the placement instrument did provide some useful information for placement decisions about some courses, it does not provide as much information as other available measures, in particular, the high school history expressed as the grade point average. Quality point production at the end of the first year was found to be a strong predictor of eventual graduation. The results suggest that for each one unit increase in the quality points earned the odds of graduation are 1.042 times better. Statistically significant differences were found in the efficacy of the different placement methods; however these differences were overshadowed by the effect of the introduction of a new mathematics course. The average grade in the initial collegiate math class for the groups in this study has risen from a low of 1.87 to 2.37 after the introduction of Math Modeling to the curriculum.

Many institutions use placement tests as a method to assess students’ readiness for college-level coursework. With the increased use of technology in testing, many institutions have transitioned placement test administration to an online format in an unproctored setting. While unproctored placement tests may provide financial and logistical benefits for institutions and students, it is important to examine if there are differences in academic outcomes when tests are administered in this format. Guided by the literature on test administration modality (i.e., proctored versus unproctored examinations), I examined if there are differences in math course performance and college student enrollment persistence between students who completed a proctored or unproctored math placement test. To investigate these important educational outcomes, I analyzed data collected as part of a 2018 randomized control trial conducted at a large, urban public institution in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in which incoming, first-year students were randomly assigned to a proctored or unproctored group to complete a math placement assessment. The current study affirmed findings from a pilot study, which suggests that students tend to place approximately one course level lower when placed using a proctored math placement test compared to an unproctored placement test and that students tend to have higher final grades in their initial math course when placed by a proctored math placement test.The current study analyzed final grades in the second math course taken between proctored and unproctored groups as well as student persistence. Analyzing mean course grades, I found that differences in grades between students who take a proctored and unproctored math placement test continue in some cases into the second math course. The percentage of F’s and withdrawals for initial and second math course final grades between students who take a proctored and unproctored math placement assessment also show differences between groups. Applying hierarchical linear regression, suggests that test administration modality does not account for a significant amount of variance in course grades. When controlling for demographic characteristics and academic factors, performance from the initial course taken, was found to be the most significant factor of grades in second math course taken. Results from the current study suggests that test administration modality during math placement tests while not a statistically significant variable in academic performance in second math course taken, may still be helpful as it is a statistically significant variable in academic performance in the first math course taken. Since initial math course grades were statistically significant in explaining the difference in grades between groups, institutions should consider using proctoring during math placement tests as a practice. Further research should be conducted, however, to understand how test administration modality during placement tests affects students in different programs, including programs that do not require courses along the institution’s math course sequence. Additionally, further research on types of proctoring would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the proctoring options available to institutions and whether they result in the same outcomes for students. / Educational Leadership

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The role of the community college is constantly evolving. At its inception in the early 1900’s, the community college’s broad focus was to provide quality, affordable education to the members of the community the college serves. Today, that focus remains the same, but has also morphed into one that meets the specific needs of its students. One of these needs that is a critical issue for community colleges relates to developmental education. The assessment of developmental education has been a contentious subject among higher education institutions. Defining college readiness, methods describing how to measure it, and instruments with which to measure it, have all been issues that higher education researchers have debated. Using multilevel modeling, this study evaluated a customized developmental education assessment measure in a single community college in Florida, and its ability to correctly place students in appropriate courses. The Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT) was implemented in Florida in 2010 as the primary gauge of student readiness based on competencies identified by Florida’s high school, college and university faculty. PERT assesses these competencies in the areas of mathematics, reading and writing. The courses of interest in this study were four math courses offered in community colleges across Florida: Developmental Math I (MAT 0018), Developmental Math II (MAT 0028), Intermediate Algebra (MAT 1033), and College Algebra (MAC 1105). The sample for Developmental Math I consisted of 727 students in 64 sections; for Developmental Math II, 900 students in 197 sections; for Intermediate Algebra, 713 students in 328 sections; and for College Algebra, 270 students in 204 sections. Five models were formulated to investigate the predictive validity of the PERT with final grades in the aforementioned math courses. These models also analyzed the relationships with student and course level predictors. Student level predictors included whether student had a first time in college status, student race/ethnicity, gender, student enrollment status (part-time or full-time), age, PERT score, and final grade in the math course. Course level variables consisted of employment status of instructor (part-time or full-time), the number of years the instructor had been employed, time of day of the course (day or evening), and the course delivery method (on campus or online). Results of this study indicated that the PERT score was a significant predictor for Developmental Math I, Developmental Math II, and College Algebra showing a positive relationship with final grade in each of these courses. Four of the research questions inquired as to whether interaction effects with the PERT score and race, and PERT score and gender existed. No interaction were significant, which indicated that no differential predictive validity was evident. The remaining two research questions examined the level of variance associated with the student and course level variables. For Developmental Math I, Black students had lower final grades than White students, and older students performed better than younger students. In Developmental Math II, female students had higher final grades than males, and older students had higher grades. For the credit-level courses, in Intermediate Algebra, full-time students had higher final grades than part-time students, and once again, older students exhibited higher grades. In College Algebra, for the final model, only the PERT score was significant. No other student nor course level variables was found to be significant predictors of final grade. These results are only a preliminary view of how PERT test scores relate to final math grades in only one institution in Florida. Statewide standard setting procedures are necessary in order to properly assess whether cut score for the PERT are appropriate, and to determine if this test is properly measuring the construct it intends in order to verify the reliability of the test items, and the validity of the test itself.

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Many community colleges struggle to find the best strategy to help incoming at-risk students prepare for the placement test. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental study, was to answer the question as to which of 2 programs, a 2-week, face-to-face mathematics refresher program, Math Boost-Up, or an online-only program, might increase the ACCUPLACER posttest scores of incoming community college students. The study used archival data for 136 students who self-selected to either participate in the Math Boost-Up program (the experiment group), or in the online-only program (the comparison group). Knowles's theory of adult learning, andragogy, served as the theoretical framework. Spearman, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney, and chi-square tests were used to measure the effect of 4 moderator variables (age, high school GPA, number of minutes spent in MyFoundationsLab, and number of days spent in face-to-face sessions) on the pre- and posttest scores of students in each group. The results indicated that students in the Math Boost-Up program experienced statistically significant gains in arithmetic and elementary algebra than did those students in the online-only program. The results also indicated that the 4 moderator variables affected gains in posttest scores. Additionally, the results disproved the andragogical premise that students would be self-directed and would self-select to participate in the intervention. A recommendation was that participation in the face-to-face refresher program should be mandatory. The study contributes to social change by providing evidence that short-term refresher programs could increase the scores of students on placement tests.

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive validity of several variables to determine if the Florida Computerized Placement Test - Reading (CPT-R) score alone, or other variables, could determine whether or not a student would successfully pass the highest level college preparatory reading course. The study examined fall sessions 1997-2004 (n=276,079) reading scores for all forms of the CPT to determine at what standard deviation below the cutoff score of 83 a student could still successfully complete the highest level college preparatory reading course. According to the College Board, the 83 scaled score, which exempts a student from taking the reading course, equates to approximately a 70% on the paper/pencil version of the test, yet the study revealed that a scaled score of 64 was the average score for fall sessions 1997-2004, which according to previous studies equates to 9/10th reading grade level on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (Napoli & Raymond, 1998). In addition, the most frequently obtained scaled score was 75 for fall sessions 1997-2004, which equates to an 11th grade reading level on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test; however, the results of this study showed only 61% (49, 281 out of 79,167) of the upper quartile of students (scaled scores >74) passed the highest level college preparatory reading course. Although a statistically significant relationship was found between the entry test and successful completion of the highest level college preparatory reading course, the relationship was small, and therefore does not provide very good predictive validity. Interestingly, the study revealed that students who were exempt from the reading course, and still enrolled in the course, did not have higher passing rates in the course. In addition, students with higher placement scores did not have significantly higher passing rates in the reading course than students with lower placement scores. In fact, students with the lowest scaled scores of 11-20 had the highest percentage of successfully completing the highest level college preparatory reading course.The placement test scores in reading indicate a large number of students entering Florida's community colleges are not prepared for college-level courses. In addition, the results of this study indicated that the placement test did very little to discriminate between levels of students' actual reading abilities and predict which students will ultimately pass required remedial/developmental reading classes. Although many first-time-in-college students are not recent high school graduates, high schools should be required to include reading as part of the core curriculum, separate and distinct from the language arts courses.Teachers, credentialed in reading, should be teaching reading courses in all four years of high school. Diagnostic testing and year-end testing should occur each year to chart a student's progress for all four years of high school. In addition, Florida's college entrance reading placement test should be revised so that it provides a comprehensive measurement of college-level reading skills.

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