Aligning high school and college instruction: Preparing students for success in college level mathematics

Across the United States, students are entering college with a need for improvement in basic mathematics and communication skills. In 2008, the Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 1908 which changed the expectations for the senior year of high school for many students. Students who score within certain levels on the mandatory high school assessment are administered a college placement test. For those students who do not meet the college level score identified by Florida's Board of Education, enrollment in postsecondary preparatory instruction is now mandatory. Mathematics for College Readiness is the primary mathematics course delivered to satisfy this requirement. This study analyzes the impact of Mathematics for College Readiness on postsecondary course enrollment and success. In addition to statistics describing the population, logistic regression was applied to examine which factors were likely to be related to developmental education course enrollment and postsecondary course success.;A series logistic regression analyses were conducted for all students and students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. The findings indicate that taking Mathematics for College Readiness helped reduce student probability of taking developmental education courses in college, particularly for African American and Female students. Although taking Mathematics for College Readiness was not related to student passing rates in college level mathematics courses, further analyses suggests that taking a senior-year mathematics course like Mathematics for College Readiness promotes student success in college level mathematics courses, particularly when compared with students who completed Algebra II. The results from this study also confirm the disparity in college readiness along the lines of race and ethnicity and high school academic achievement as reflected in student Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) scores. The findings from this study have strong implications for policy and practice aiming for reducing the need of developmental education in college and for improving college readiness for high school students.