The vast majority of SGSC remedial students require only remedial mathematics. Consequently, this strategy is quite significant.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Quantway remedial mathematics strategy is in its 5th year of implementation at SGSC and its 5th year of funding and professional development support from Carnegie. The Quantway course (formerly MLCS 0099, “Mathematical Literacy for College Students”; as of fall 2015 MATH 0987, “Foundation for Quantitative Reasoning”) affords non-STEM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics)) students the opportunity to complete a remedial mathematics requirement, no matter at what level of initial placement, in one semester. The successful student is then eligible to enroll in the credit-level MATH 1001 Quantitative Skills course. The Quantway course is comprised of modules developed by a network of colleges nationwide working with Carnegie staff. The modules use “real-life” situational mathematical problems, significant student participation both individually and in groups, and instructor guidance to help students build a solid foundation of mathematical literacy and critical thinking skills.
Additionally, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching awarded SGSC a grant last year, one of only five grants awarded nationally, to develop a bridge course that will allow a student who has passed the Quantway course to go directly to college algebra (MATH 1111), rather than pursue the Quantitative Skills (MATH 1001) route. SGSC was informed in June 2015 that the grant has been extended for another year. SGSC is the only college in the nation developing the bridge course from Quantway to college algebra; the other four institutions are developing bridge courses from a remedial statistics course (Statway) to college algebra.
This strategy is fully implemented. Activities include faculty development, development of courses in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, collaboration with other institutions nationwide, and the piloting of a bridge and co-requisite remedial mathematics course. Activity highlights include the following:
The SGSC Quantway team has been active in professional development in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The team is comprised of mathematics faculty members, a campus Quantway administrator, and a campus Quantway institutional researcher. All SGSC team members attend training sessions in California and continue to attend annual Carnegie Pathways forums, the most recent of which was this year (2015). At Carnegie’s request, one of the SGSC mathematics instructors works with Carnegie apart from the regular meetings and forums to assist in developing processes, procedures, and teaching materials and pedagogy.
The Quantway course has been offered on the Douglas Campus each semester for over five years. The course was offered at the Waycross Campus for the first time spring 2015.
Bridge course/co-requisite course lessons were piloted summer 2015 on the Douglas Campus.
The bridge course from Quantway to college algebra, “Support for College Algebra” (MATH 0999) will be fully implemented on both the Douglas and Waycross Campuses fall 2015. The bridge course is the co-requisite course for college algebra (MATH 1111). The bridge course will enable a student who has passed the Quantway remedial mathematics course to go directly into the “Support for College Algebra” co-requisite course and the college algebra course (MATH 1111) at the same time.
Beginning fall semester 2015 the Quantway course will be renumbered and renamed to be more in keeping with the USG’s new Learning Support policies. The new nomenclature is MATH 0987, “Foundation for Quantitative Reasoning.”
