Curriculum Redesign Grants: Achieving Equitable Outcomes in Undergraduate Programs

Curriculum Redesign: Math 10 - Essentials of Algebra

Math 10 is an introductory math course that can be taken, in lieu of the ALEKS PPL placement exam, to meet math course prerequisites for students in non-STEM majors, such as Business, Nursing, and Liberal Studies. Math 10 students are generally freshman and students who have struggled in math classes in the past or do not feel confident in their mathematical ability. Around 15 sections of Math 10 are offered each semester and class size is generally around 25 students. The course is coordinate across all sections and was designed to promote mathematical sense-making and collaboration though daily group work.

This course redesign hoped to address barriers to student success by utilizing:

Cultivate a sense of belonging, trust, and build a "yet..." mentality in our classrooms.
New curriculum using social justice topics to promote student interest and improve problem solving proficiency.
Study skills workshops to promote growth mindset and study skills in students.
Faculty professional development to develop culturally responsive pedagogy and promote coordination among course sections.

Evidence of Course Redesign Materials: PD, Curriculum, Tools
In a professional development meeting of the Math 10 instructors we discussed this image exploring the difference between equality and equity.	Images of Project 1: City of Trees pages 1 and 2 which compares average household income and average temperatures in Sacramento neighborhoods.	Grade book for recording Mastery Based Grading of the 16 Standards for Basic Skills in the course. M = Meets or Exceeds Expectations I = In Progress N = Not Yet O = Open or No Evidence

Why Redesign: DFW Rates, GPA Gaps, and Downstream Courses

On the CSU Success Dashboard for 2019 and 2020 (AYs), Math 10 was identified as a top ten course in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics having the highest number of students with non-passing grades. The DFW rate has increased each year since the inception of the course in the 2018, resulting in a 9%, 15%, and 22% DFW rate for each consecutive year. In the 2019 AY, Math 10 was among the top ten courses in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics with the largest GPA gap between underrepresented minority students (URM) and non-URM students. The majority of Math 10 students will go on to take STAT 1, a course which is also identified as having a high DFW rate, impacting the third highest number of student of courses across campus over the last three years.

Who Contributed to the Redesign

This grant was supported by the Office of Undergraduate Studies at Sacramento State. It was awarded to four faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics who collaborated on the project: Drs. Lauren Cappiello, Sayonita Ghosh Hajra, Jas Pannu, and Topaz Wiscons. Consultants from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Sacramento State and Cal Poly Pomona offered guidance and curriculum design to the project: Travis Hayes, Yajenny Pacheco-Enamorado, Zachary Tintiangco, Dr. Robin Wilson. Nine instructors of Math 10 participated in professional development and feedback on curriculum

Components of the Redesign

Support for Instructors

Faculty Professional Development
- culturally relevant teaching and building equitable and inclusive classrooms
- Weekly meetings to discuss content, curriculum, and pedagogy
Redesigned Curriculum
- Development of 16 Standards for the basic skills required in the course and a system of assessment using Mastery Based Grading. This included the development of a problem bank, construction of weekly quizzes, and the creation of a grade book to track mastery of the 16 Standards
- Two class projects tying social justice to the mathematics of the course

Support for Students

Integration of Commit to Study and reflections assignments to build study skills into the course requirements
Building community and growth-mindset in mathematics class through inclusive classroom practices and mastery/standards based grading of basic skills.

Assessment of the Redesign

Pre and post surveys of the instructors on curriculum and on knowledge of and comfort leading equitable and inclusive classrooms
Pre and post inclusivity-surveys of students
Campus and Department level data: DFW rates and GPA gaps

Assessment

Student Response

Students completed a pre and post-inclusivity survey in which they reflected on a past math class and on their current Math 10 course, respectively. Responses were in the form of a 1-5 likert scale. Questions included,

1. Students have an equal opportunity to participate in class.
  
  The instructor said or did something that made me question whether I belong in this class.
  
  A student said or did something that made me question whether I belong in this class.
  
  The instructor respects me and what I bring to this class.
  
  The instructor, consciously or unconsciously, shows a preference for certain groups of students.

Pre-survey: n = 235

Post-survey: n = 129

Students had an equal opportunity to participate in class

	My former classes	This class
Strongly disagree	0.051	0.054
Somewhat disagree	0.060	0.000
Neutral	0.200	0.062
Somewhat Agree	0.174	0.085
Strongly Agree	0.494	0.798
Do not wish to answer	0.021	0.000

The instructor said or did something that made me question whether I belonged in this class.

	A former class	This class
Strongly disagree	0.396	0.636
Somewhat disagree	0.174	0.124
Neutral	0.234	0.116
Somewhat Agree	0.111	0.047
Strongly Agree	0.055	0.070
Do not wish to answer	0.030	0.008

A student said or did something that made me question whether I belonged in this class

	A former class	This class
Strongly disagree	0.481	0.713
Somewhat disagree	0.162	0.085
Neutral	0.183	0.124
Somewhat Agree	0.098	0.031
Strongly Agree	0.064	0.047
Do not wish to answer	0.013	0.000

The instructor respected me and what I brought to the class.

	Pre-Survey	Post-Survey
Strongly disagree	0.021	0.023
Somewhat disagree	0.038	0.000
Neutral	0.153	0.054
Somewhat Agree	0.157	0.109
Strongly Agree	0.613	0.814
Do not wish to answer	0.017	0.000

Self-Reported Demographics of Students in Math 10

I am a first-generation college student.

	Pre-Survey	Post-Survey
Yes	0.613	0.659
No	0.387	0.341

Which of these best describes your race or ethnicity?

	Pre-Survey	Post-Survey
Asian	0.221	0.225
Latinx	0.447	0.504
White (non-Hispanic)	0.128	0.109
Black or African-American	0.111	0.070
Native American	0.009	0.000
Not listed here	0.085	0.093

Which best describes your sex?

	Pre-Survey	Post-Survey
Male	0.387	0.395
Female	0.604	0.597
Non Gender Binary	0.009	0.008

Instructor Responses

Instructors were polled pre and post to reflect on their confidence creating equitable classrooms and their comfort leading discussions or assigning materials that discuss race and different cultural backgrounds. Results of the pre and post surveys were mixed. Some instructors felt more confident engaging in these conversations and materials with students while others felt less confident after the semester.

Some responses to the open question, "How would you describe your experience in using the pilot activities? Please share any classroom moments, student feedback, or anything that stood out to you."

The students especially enjoyed the activities that related math to their lived experiences, like the one about racism as a public health crisis. My only regret is that it was hard to find the time for those types of activities and also cover the mathematical material for the class.

Bring up discussions on race and equity were not as difficult or uncomfortable as I feared. The students were receptive and participated very actively when sharing their thoughts and work with me in the form of written work. The students didn't participate actively in class discussion during the pilot activities, or in general. The student participation was unusual low throughout the semester, but believe it was entirely due to external factors and not the pilot activities.

I found the projects to be very insightful and a very good application of the materials. I also had an opportunity to share the article on racism being a public health crisis and found it to be a good opportunity to talk about something important that is not directly related to the material. The conversations were better than expected although I don't think we can expect that all the time.

I enjoyed implementing the standards and two projects in class. I feel comfortable discussing class and "caste" systems in America, but am not as comfortable when the discussion involves racism in America without it being tied to facts on material or historical conditions. From the anecdotal feedback provided, students enjoyed the standards and Project 2.

I absolutely loved the mastery based grading, but found it difficult (in terms of instruction time) to be able to work through many of the group assignments. Maybe we can include some of the social justice worksheet problems on homework next semester.

Campus and Department level data: DFW rates

As is being reported across campus, and indeed, campuses, Fall 2022 proved to be incredibly challenging, particularly for college freshman. It pains me to report that, in Math 10, DFW rates jumped to 35% for Fall 2022. It is difficult to determine if the redesigned material contributed to or decreased the non-pass rate during this semester.

Academic Year	Fall DFW Rates	Spring DFW Rates
2018-19	7%	11%
2019-20	18%	12%
2020-21	26%	16%
2021-22	26%	17%
2022-23	35%	--

Future Plans

Students were quite overwhelmed in the Fall 2022, thus the number of assignments and the variety of assignments were reduced in Math 10 for the Spring 2023 semester. Unfortunately, this meant cutting study skills reflection, though we still announced and encourage attendance at the Commit to Study workshops. Projects on social justice were also cut this semester.

Course Standards and Mastery Based Grading (MBG) of the Standards was refined and has continued in Spring 2023. While instructors are generally in favor of MBG and its benefits, it has not been clear that students are using the system to their benefit. We will reassess the implementation of this system at the end of the semester to determine if we will continue to use it in Fall 2023.

Biography

Faculty Biography
	Topaz Wiscons is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. She is interested in math education and she serves as the Math 10 coordinator.

Sponsors: