Work-In-progress: Helping first year students start on track in the mathematics sequence

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

8-6-2017

Abstract

Most incoming freshman take the Mathematics Placement Test before joining New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The outcome of this test determines the level of mathematics (calculus I or a remedial pre-calculus course) they begin with in their first semester. For students in Newark College of Engineering (NCE) at NJIT, by design, the mathematics placement drives the remainder of their courses as well. This means that poor performance on the Mathematics Placement Test easily adds 1-2 semesters to students' overall graduation time. This also has a strong impact on the retention and graduation rates within NCE. Clearly, if more students perform better on the Placement Test, then higher the retention and graduation rates will be. This work-in-progress paper takes a look at various reasons due to which students do not do well on the Placement Test. For each of these reasons identified, NJIT has implemented various initiatives to help students start on track in their first semester. Some of these initiatives include 1) developing sample placement tests for students to practice under the same environment as the original test, 2) making a placement calculator for students to input the scores from the practice placement tests to determine their likely mathematics placement, 3) establishing a strong outreach to educate students about the impact of their mathematics placement on their engineering curriculum and motivating them to do better on the Placement Test, and 4) Engineering Mathematics Summer Boot Camp. The authors would like to present data about these projects and initiatives and would like to get input and feedback on how these can be polished to perform better going forward.

Identifier

85051209489 (Scopus)

Publication Title

2017 Fyee Conference

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