Freshmen Year Experience Assessment
2010
Pass Rate and Effect of Freshmen Sections by Course
Fall 2008 - Fall 2010
100%
Pass Rate
Effect
80%
Pass Rate (%)
60%
40%
20%
0%
‐20%
Course
Figure 1. Percent of students receiving A, B, or C in courses with freshman‐only sections and difference
with pass rate in mixed sections.
Figure 1 shows (blue bars) the average rate of passing (i.e., final grade of A, B, or C) for students
enrolled in freshmen-only sections of courses in the Fall 2008, Fall 2009, and Fall 2010
semesters. The difference between this rate and the rate of passing for students enrolled in nonfreshman-only sections of the same courses is also shown (red bars), with positive numbers
indicating that the freshmen-only sections had a greater pass rate. Note that 15 of the 17 courses
(88.2%) showed that students in the freshman-only sections were more likely to pass the course
than students in sections that had unrestricted enrollment. This result suggests that freshmanonly sections offer a means of increasing 1st-to-2nd-year retention rates and improving student
progression toward graduation. A table with detailed data for these pass rates follows on the
next page.
Table 1. Pass rate (% of students with a final grade of A, B, or C) of students in freshman-only
sections and the difference from pass rate of students in mixed sections of the same course
2008‐2009
Subject
ART
BIOL
BIOL
BUSN
CHEM
CMST
CURR
ENGL
GEOG
HIST
HIST
MATH
MATH
MUSC
PSYC
SOCL
THEA
Average
Course
1009
1014
1020
1001
1007
2001
2085
1001
1001
1011
2001
0093
1011
1091
2001
1001
1091
Pass Rate
78.2%
39.5%
58.1%
81.5%
42.3%
Effect
‐0.2%
4.6%
4.5%
‐1.1%
12.7%
92.2%
88.0%
80.7%
85.7%
93.3%
8.3%
3.8%
2.1%
26.6%
18.8%
73.5%
85.8%
68.7%
84.2%
75.1%
2009‐2010
19.1%
‐1.2%
‐12.7%
9.3%
Pass Rate
74.2%
53.9%
67.4%
69.3%
62.6%
63.4%
88.5%
83.9%
84.1%
79.3%
59.5%
45.8%
57.1%
86.5%
84.4%
79.7%
Effect
10.9%
15.6%
34.9%
4.2%
41.2%
‐4.5%
7.4%
‐3.0%
6.4%
14.3%
‐4.2%
12.2%
2.4%
7.6%
13.6%
17.5%
6.8%
71.2%
11.0%
2010‐2011
Pass
Rate
Effect
46.8%
59.8%
72.0%
75.8%
71.9%
88.4%
81.5%
83.6%
60.6%
60.9%
41.7%
55.0%
82.2%
82.1%
80.8%
67.3%
69.4%
‐0.4%
17.5%
8.2%
27.5%
‐13.3%
9.0%
15.5%
‐3.3%
‐6.5%
2.9%
3.1%
19.0%
0.4%
9.2%
23.7%
‐9.7%
6.4%
Overall
Pass Rate
76.0%
45.7%
62.4%
76.2%
59.2%
66.0%
90.0%
84.9%
82.3%
80.8%
74.3%
44.1%
60.7%
85.0%
77.4%
81.3%
67.3%
71.4%
Effect
4.0%
6.3%
17.5%
4.1%
27.9%
‐7.6%
8.4%
0.3%
2.4%
17.5%
7.2%
9.4%
10.8%
2.7%
1.8%
14.9%
‐9.7%
6.9%
Average Grade vs SI Attendance, All Courses
Fall 2008 - Fall 2010
4.00
3.50
Fall 08
Fall 09
Fall 10
3.00
2.75
Average Grade
2.50
2.04 2.00
2.00
1.66 1.63
2.2
2.22
2.38
2.77
2.59
2.24
1.75
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
0
1-2
3-5
6 or more
SI Sessions Attended
Figure 2. Average student final grade for course sections having supplemental instruction (SI) by
number of SI sessions attended, Fall 2008‐Fall 2010.
Figure 2 shows the average final grade of students enrolled in course sections that had
supplemental instruction (SI) available and is separated by the number of SI sessions attended by
the student per semester. In these data, A is given 4 points, B is given 3 points, C is given 2
points, D is given 1 point, and F is given 0 points. The data show that the more frequently a
student attends SI instruction, the better his/her course grade is likely to be. They suggest that,
on average, SI may have as much as a one-letter-grade increase in the student’s course grade
(difference between average course grade for the 6-or-more-SI-session group and the 0-SIsession group).