Does mandatory supplemental instruction work in developmental math education? A study of students enrolled in developmental math courses at a suburban community college in the Northeast

The number of students entering the community college in need of developmental math has not changed, remaining at a steady 60% over the past seven years. This study compared the success rate of Mandatory Supplemental Instruction (MSI) sessions within four sections of a developmental math course compared with the success rates of students enrolled in both the Traditional Classroom setting and the Individualized format at Suburban Community College (SCC) during the Fall 2009 semester. These MSI format courses were compared with both the Individualized format of MAT 060 and the Traditional Classroom format of the same course. The students included in these sections were a combination of students who were: (1) suggested by advisors to enroll in this developmental math course after receiving a low score on the college's Accuplacer placement test for algebra or continuing the progression of developmental math from the lower level arithmetic class; (2) mandated to attend MSI after successful completion of the Jump Start Math Program, or (3) self-selected into the MSI group anticipating the need for additional help in the course. The two primary data sets available for this study are student math final grades and student participation/attendance records. Secondary sets of data include informal focus group notes, final exam scores, student attendance records for both class lectures and MSI sessions, and Supplemental Instruction Leader anecdotal records.;The findings of this study conclude that success rates of students enrolled in the MSI sections of developmental math do not differ significantly from those enrolled in the Traditional Classroom format of developmental math; however, both groups did differ significantly from the Individualized format of developmental math, in that the students enrolled in the Individualized format succeeded at a lesser rate and withdrew at a greater rate than their MSI or Traditional Classroom counterparts. This study also concluded that female, full-time students succeeded at a greater rate across the board, which is consistent with the literature. These findings were significant for a number of reasons. Although the difference between the treatment group and the Traditional Classroom group was not significant, there are a variety of reasons at the program level as to why this may have been so and there are many future constructs that SCC can put in place to strengthen and reassess the MSI program. Although this study was focused on the MSI treatment, the data revealed a greater issue existing in the Individualized format of developmental math at SCC. Future considerations can be made in this particular delivery method to improve success rates of students involved in this program. Future research on MSI in the form of persistence and retention rates, graduation rates, transfer rates, subsequent math course grades and success in other college-level classes can be explored to provide the MSI program with more data to determine if particular groups of students are benefiting from this format.