Increasing pass rates in English 1101 and the major appropriate MATH courses is the goal of this strategy. Both the department of English and Mathematics have submitted improvement plans and are implementing them. Among the strategies being employed include:
- ENGL 1101
- Increases the number of sections of ENGL 0999 to reduce the number of students per section
- ENGL 0999 instructors meet regularly to coordinate their efforts, since most of the students are from University College and are taught by same ENGL 1101 instructor who also teaches one of the ENGL 1101 sections
- Two trained consultants from the University Writing Center are being used as embedded tutors, each covering two of the four sections
- A committee in the Department of English and Modern Languages is working align goals, grading procedures, and assignments in ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102
- The department has also enacted a common attendance policy
- Major Appropriate Math Courses
- Instructors are using the Mindset Intervention in sections of MATH 0999
- Two Math instructors have secured a USG STEM Initiative Supplemental Funding Grant to improve pass rates in MATH 1111 College Algebra and MATH 1120 Calculus I
- Using diagnostic exams administered in the first week to identify possible issues in the students’ preparation
- Employing tutors who are available five days a week in the building where most Math sections are taught
- Using self-diagnosis questions through the semester to teach students to identify their personal strengths and weaknesses
Each fall semester the Director of Institutional Effectiveness & Planning and the Director of Institutional Research collaborate on a progress report of the cohort from the previous fall. This report tracks the completion of ENGL 1101, ENGL 1102, Major Appropriate Math Courses, and any other Math courses taken by the cohort. From this report, the percentage of students in the cohort who have passed ENGL 1101 and their Major Appropriate Math Courses are calculated. The report also allows us to see how many students take another Math course in addition to their Major Appropriate Math Courses, as well as how many students complete ENGL 1102 during their first year. For the purposes of these calculations, Dual Enrollment and AP credit is excluded unless the student took a dual enrollment course from GSW and subsequently matriculated here. We also monitor grade distributions in English Composition and Core Mathematics courses to ensure alignment of grading standards. To assess the effectiveness of embedded tutoring in ENGL 0999, we will monitor the pass rates of ENGL 0999 sections in in their co-requisite college-level course.
Reducing the section size for ENGL 0999 and increasing the contact hours from 1 hour to two without increasing the course credits hours has been beneficial, but we still have trouble scheduling both the college-level class and the co-requisite support class with the same instructor. In addition, the instructors teaching sections of ENGL 0999 have observed that many of the students have reading as well as writing deficiencies. We have a plan to schedule the college-level classes and co-requisite classes with the same instructors that will be implemented for the fall 2026 schedule. We are exploring ideas to include embedded reading tutors in ENGL 0999, as well as writing tutors. We will pilot having both embedded reading and writing tutors in spring 2026.
Pending the results of the embedded tutoring in ENGL 0999 and the results of MATH tutoring for MATH 1111 and MATH 1120, we will consider continuing or scaling these efforts in more sections or in additional courses.
Finding tutors is always an issue since the institution is often unable to pay as well as outside employers. Funds from the Institutional Effectivness & Planning budget are being used to offer a more competitive wage for embedded tutors and the Math Tutors are being paid from the grant. Funding requests were made during through the internal budgeting process.Bryan Davis
