The University of Toledo The University of Toledo Digital Repository Theses and Dissertations 2013 An evaluation of the emporium model as a tool for increasing student performance in developmental mathematics and college algebra James K. Vallade The University of Toledo Follow this and additional works at: http://utdr.edu/theses-dissertations Recommended Citation Vallade, James K., "An evaluation of the emporium model as a tool for increasing student performance in developmental mathematics and college algebra" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The University of Toledo Digital Repository.
It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The University of Toledo Digital Repository. For more information, please see the repository's About page. A Dissertation entitled An Evaluation of the Emporium Model as a Tool for Increasing Student Performance in Developmental Mathematics and College Algebra by James K. Vallade Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Higher Education ________________________________________________ Dr.
David Meabon, Committee Chair ________________________________________________ Dr. Mary Ellen Edwards, Committee Member ________________________________________________ Dr. Ron Opp, Committee Member ________________________________________________ Dr. Tod Shockey, Committee Member ________________________________________________ Dr.
Patricia Komuniecki, Dean College of Graduate Studies The University of Toledo December 2013 Copyright 2013, James Kenneth Vallade This document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no parts of this document may be reproduced without the express permission of the author. An Abstract of An Evaluation of the Emporium Model as a Tool for Increasing Student Performance in Developmental Mathematics and College Algebra by James K. Vallade Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Higher Education The University of Toledo December 2013 The purpose of this study was to examine the Emporium Model in an effort to determine the effectiveness of this strategy in increasing student performance in a developmental mathematics course as well as preparing students for a college-level mathematics course.
The target population for this study was all community colleges that have redesigned their developmental mathematics courses based upon the Emporium Model. Each of the three community colleges included in this study provided data on student performance in both Intermediate Algebra and College Algebra. This study utilized a causal-comparative research design, and both a chi square analysis and independent samples t-test were employed to answer the research questions. The results show that students who took Intermediate Algebra in an Emporium format had passing rates that were higher than students who took the course in another format.
Additionally, students who completed Intermediate Algebra in the Emporium format had higher passing rates and significantly higher mean grades in College Algebra than students who did not complete Intermediate Algebra in the Emporium format. Implications and recommendations for further research are included. iii For Michael, Landon, Thomas, and Baby Acknowledgments Appreciation goes to my dissertation chair Dr. David Meabon for all of his help and guidance in completing this project and to my other committee members for their contributions.
Appreciation also goes to my parents for the love and support that they have shown me throughout my life. Thank you, Danielle, for being patient with me and understanding the time commitment necessary to complete this project. You are a wonderful wife. Finally, thanks go to God for giving me the natural ability needed to complete this dissertation.
v Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi List of Tables x I. Background of the Study 1 B. Statement of the Problem 4 C. Purpose of the Study 5 D.
Significance of the Study 6 E. Conceptual and Theoretical Framework 8 F. Organization of the Study 13 II. History of the Community College 16 C.
The Community College Mission 19 a. The Transfer Mission 21 b. The Vocational Education Mission 22 c. The Continuing/Lifelong Education Mission 24 d.
The Cooling Out of the Community College Student 27 E. The Developmental Education Mission 29 a. The History of Developmental Education 30 b. Controversy Surrounding Developmental Education 32 c.
The Cost of Developmental Education 34 d. Effectiveness of Developmental Education 36 e. Improving Developmental Education 39 F. Developmental Mathematics Education 41 a.
Effectiveness of Developmental Mathematics Education 42 b. Improving Developmental Mathematics Education 47 G. Computer Assisted Instruction 49 a. Two Types of Computer-Assisted Instruction 51 b.
Effectiveness of Computer-Assisted Instruction 53 c. The Emporium Model 56 d. Conceptual and Theoretical Framework 61 a. Behaviorism and Programmed Instruction 62 b.
Self-Regulation Theory 64 c. Personalized System of Instruction 66 d. Putting It All Together 67 I. Design of the Study 71 C.
Selection of Participants 73 D. Chi Square Analysis 77 b. Independent Samples t-Test 78 F. Presentation and Analyses of Data 80 A.
Testing the Research Questions 81 a. Research Question One 81 i. Community College A 82 ii. Community College C 83 iii.
Research Question Two 87 i. Community College A 88 ii. Community College B 89 iii. Community College C 91 iv.
Summary, Discussion, and Conclusions 97 A. Summary of the Study 97 viii C. Discussion of the Findings 98 a. Research Question One 99 i.
Combined Analysis 99 ii. Research Question Two 101 i. Combined Analysis 102 ii. Implications for Practice 104 E.
Implications for Theory 109 F. Recommendations for Further Research 111 G. Conclusions 114 References 116 ix List of Tables Table 1 Number of Student Data Files……………………………………….76 Table 2 Grade Frequencies for Intermediate Algebra (Community College A)……….82 Table 3 Mean Grade for Intermediate Algebra (Community College A)………………83 Table 4 Grade Frequencies for Intermediate Algebra (Community College C)……….84 Table 5 Mean Grade for Intermediate Algebra (Community College C)………………85 Table 6 Grade Frequencies for Intermediate Algebra (Combined Results)……………86 Table 7 Mean Grade for Intermediate Algebra (Combined Results)………………….87 Table 8 Grade Frequencies for College Algebra (Community College A)…………….88 Table 9 Mean Grade for College Algebra (Community College A)………………….89 Table 10 Grade Frequencies for College Algebra (Community College B)………….90 Table 11 Mean Grade for College Algebra (Community College B)……………….91 Table 12 Grade Frequencies for College Algebra (Community College C)………….92 Table 13 Mean Grade for College Algebra (Community College C)………………….93 Table 14 Grade Frequencies for College Algebra (Combined Results)……………….94 Table 15 Mean Grade for College Algebra (Combined Results)………………………95 x Chapter One Introduction Background of the Study Over the past few decades developmental education has become an important mission of the American community college as growing numbers of students enter college unprepared for college-level work. Sometimes referred to as “remedial education”, “college prep”, “compensatory education”, or “basic skills development”, the term developmental education is what is preferred and used by professionals and practitioners in the field (The Institute for Higher Education Policy, 1998; Kozeracki, 2002; Tomlinson, 1989).
Developmental education, in its most general sense, refers to a wide range of courses and services that are designed and offered in hopes of increasing the retention rate of students and to help ensure the completion of their post-secondary educational goals by improving student skills, habits, and attitudes (Boylan, 2008; Boylan & Bonham, 2007). The number of student enrollments in non-credit developmental courses has prompted Astin to describe the growing need for developmental education as “the most important educational problem in America today” (1998, p. It is estimated that about 30% of all students entering a post-secondary institution require some form of developmental coursework (Bahr, 2007; Chung, 2005). In 2007, developmental courses were offered at 100% of community colleges, 80% of public four-year institutions, and 59% of private four-year institutions (Taylor, 2008).
During this time, 63% of students who attended only a two-year institution and 64% of those who attended both two and four-year institutions enrolled in at least one developmental course (Tierney & Garcia, 2008). The 1 American Association of Community Colleges estimates that at the community college level approximately 60% of entering freshmen are not ready for college-level work (Stuart, 2009) and in a statewide study of Texas community college students, it was found that 88% took some developmental courses, typically developmental mathematics (Boyer, Butner, & Smith, 2007). The numbers in California are even worse where the Community College Chancellor‟s Office reports that up to 90% of first-time community college students test below college level in math and over 70% test below college level in reading and writing (Moore & Shulock, 2007). Although developmental education usually encompasses the areas of math, reading, and writing, students are most likely to need assistance with math (Bahr, 2007; Le, Rogers, & Santos, 2011).
For example, 22% of first-time college students enrolled in developmental math courses, compared with 14% who enrolled in developmental writing and 11% who enrolled in developmental reading (Parsad, Lewis, & Greene, 2003). Similarly, Adelman (2004) found that 34% of students earn credits in developmental math compared to 18% in developmental reading. Community colleges are of primary interest when it comes to developmental education due to the fact that they constitute the primary venue in which developmental education is delivered (Bahr, 2008b). For example, a recent study of institutions participating in Achieving the Dream, a national initiative to improve student success at community colleges, found that more than half of all the students attending the participating community colleges were referred to developmental math courses and that 19% of these students were directed to math courses that were three levels below college-level math (Le, Rogers, & Santos, 2011).
In a study of California community college students, Bahr found that over 80% of first-time 2 freshmen who enrolled in non-vocational math enrolled specifically in developmental math. In recent decades, educational professionals have increasingly turned to advances in technology and computer-assisted instruction in an attempt to improve the outcomes of developmental mathematics courses and programs. Computer-assisted instruction refers to the use of technology to supplement or replace various elements of a traditional course. Computer-assisted instruction can allow for the delivery of instruction that provides students the opportunity to work through the content at their own pace during some portion or all of classroom time, with the instructor providing various degrees of interaction through lecture and individualized attention (Hodora, 2011).
Computer- assisted instruction also includes course redesign models, sometimes referred to as computer-mediated learning, which are a growing trend in the field of developmental mathematics (Epper & Baker, 2009; Twigg, 2005). These models replace some or all of the face-to-face interaction with self-paced content that is delivered through an online delivery system. These models have proven successful in reorganizing the curriculum to allow accelerated student learning and completion of educational requirements for the course (Speckler, 2012). It is hoped that the utilization of these models in the developmental mathematics classroom can increase student performance and retention by increasing the intensity of the course and allowing for accelerated student learning, variables that have shown some promise for improving overall academic accomplishment (Bailey, Jeong, & Cho, 2010; Epper & Baker, 2009; Rotman, 2012).
One specific type of computer-assisted instruction is known as the Emporium Model. The Emporium Model achieves reform by (1) eliminating all lectures and replacing them 3 with a learning resource center model featuring interactive software and on-demand personalized help, (2) relying on instructional software that includes homework, quizzes, and tests, and features immediate feedback to the student, (3) allowing students to work through the material at a pace that is appropriate for them, (4) using a staffing model that utilizes faculty and both professional and peer tutors, and (5) allowing the students to complete more than one course within a semester (The National Center for Academic Transformation, 2012a). Statement of the Problem Due to the large numbers of students enrolled in developmental education and the costs associated with these programs, the need for sound and comprehensive research on the issue of developmental education is apparent. Surprisingly, few methodologically sound, multi-institutional, comprehensive evaluations of developmental education programs have been published (Bahr, 2008b) and little is known about whether developmental education programs are an effective tool in helping students stay in college and complete their academic goals (Moore, Jensen, & Hatch, 2002).