Running head: MATH LEVELS OF ECONOMICS STUDENTS
Math Levels of Economics Students
Rick Fillman
Institutional Research Analyst
Planning and Research Office
December 2010
MATH LEVELS OF ECONOMICS STUDENTS
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Introduction
Many four-year universities now require completion of Intermediate
Algebra as a prerequisite for lower-division Economics courses in order
for the course to fulfill the requirements for lower-division major
preparation.
At present the recommended preparation for both Economics 1A and
Economics 1B at Cabrillo College is “Eligibility for ENGL 100, READ 100
and MATH-154”1 (Elementary Algebra). In other words, neither
Elementary Algebra (MATH-154) nor Intermediate Algebra (MATH152) need be completed prior to taking Economics. The lack of an
Intermediate Algebra requirement for Cabrillo’s Economics course may
jeopardize the potential of this transferable course to fulfill a transfer
student’s lower division major preparation requirements. If Cabrillo’s
Economics course were not accepted for major preparation purposes,
students would need to repeat the course at the four year institution,
resulting in a time and cost penalty to the student.
Note that a prerequisite of MATH-152 would require that students
complete, or demonstrate mastery of, both Elementary and
Intermediate Algebra prior to enrolling in Economics. If such a
prerequisite were instituted locally, at Cabrillo College, how many
students might be impacted?
Methodology
Student records for ten years of enrollments in Economics courses
were gathered, with the aim of determining a student’s math
achievement level at the time of the student’s first enrollment2 in
either Introduction to Macroeconomics (ECON-1A) or Introduction to
Microeconomics (ECON-1B).
There are three ways to meet a prerequisite: assessment/placement,
satisfactory completion of an equivalent course elsewhere, or
completion of the prerequisite course at Cabrillo. Data from
assessment/placement scores and equivalencies from other institutions
is gathered from the Datatel student information system. Enrollment
data for Cabrillo Math enrollments where the student completed the
Math course with a satisfactory grade are assembled from the Cabrillo
1
Cabrillo College Catalog
Repeat enrollments in ECON courses are excluded from the analysis. The repeat rate is about
9.9% for ECON -1A, and about 8.7% for ECON-1B, using 10 years of enrollment data.
2
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research data warehouse. These data are chronologically aligned with
the Economics course enrollments, and the Math level at the time of
the enrollment is determined by the most recently completed Math
course prior to the term of the Economics enrollment. In cases where
there is no satisfactory Math completion record (the student didn’t
take Math at Cabrillo, or did and received a grade of D, F, or W), then
the students’ assessment/placement and/or equivalency level, if
available, is used to determine the Math level.
The Math level of some students cannot be determined. If the student
never attempts to enroll in a Math course at the college, they may not
have been required to undergo assessment/placement in Math.
Further, the Economics prerequisite (eligibility for MATH-154) is not
electronically enforced via the student enrollment system, but is
evaluated by the instructor. Records of instructor evaluation of
prerequisites are not entered into the Datatel student information
system.
How many students would be impacted?
If a Intermediate Algebra was established as a prerequisite for
economics courses, this would preclude or delay enrollment for at least
one in four students in ECON-1A sections, and one in three students in
ECON-1B sections. An additional number of students from the
“unknown” Math level group would likely be impacted as well.
About 46% of first-time enrollees in ECON-1A and about 56% of
enrollees in ECON-1B would have clearly met the hypothetical
prerequisite by the time of their enrollment in Economics.
The chart below shows the number of students who would have met or
not met this hypothetical prerequisite at the time of their first
enrollment in ECON-1A or 1B, respectively. These data are compiled
from ten years of enrollment records from academic years 2000-01
through 2009-10.
Historical percentage of students meeting or not meeting
a hypothetical Intermediate Algebra prerequisite for Economics
ECON-1A
Headcount Percent
Prereq. met
2083
46.4%
Prereq. not met
1724
38.4%
Prereq. status unknown
682
15.2%
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ECON-1B
Headcount Percent
Prereq. met
1508
56.2%
Prereq. not met
814
30.4%
Prereq. status unknown
360
13.4%
An examination of the data for trends over time showed that the
percentage of students meeting the prerequisite varies little from year
to year.
How would enrollment in Economics courses be affected?
Introduction of such a prerequisite would likely result an reduction of
in the number students who enroll in Economics classes. Those
without the hypothetical prerequisite will abstain from or delay their
enrollment until after completing the Math prerequisite.
Under-represented students3 are less likely to be in the group having
met the hypothetical prerequisite. The chart below illustrates this
phenomenon, by listing the proportion of underrepresented students
who meet or do not meet the hypothetical prerequisite as contrasted
with the proportion of Whites and Asians.
Students meeting the hypothetical Intermediate Algebra prerequisite
UnderWhites &
Asians
ECON1A represented
Prereq. met
41%
49%
Prereq. not met
46%
35%
Prereq. status unknown
13%
16%
UnderWhites &
Asians
ECON1B represented
Prereq. met
51%
58%
Prereq. not met
36%
28%
Prereq. status unknown
13%
13%
3
Underrepresented includes Native Americans, African Americans, Filipinos,
Hispanic/Latino and Pacific Islanders, with Latino by far the most numerous of the
under represented groups.
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Does Math level affect success in Economics?
If students were required to complete Intermediate Algebra before
enrolling in Economics, would students be better prepared? Overall,
the success rate4 for students in Macroeconomics (ECON-1A) courses
is 68.7%. The rate for Microeconomics (ECON-1B) students is 69.8%.
There is some minor variance from term to term.
When calculated separately for the group that met the hypothetical
prerequisite, as opposed to those who did not, students who have
completed Intermediate Algebra (or the equivalent) have a markedly
higher rate of success in Economics courses. The chart below
illustrates success rates for the three groups.
Course success rate by Intermediate Algebra completion
Hypothetical Algebra
prerequisite met?
Prereq. met
Prereq. not met
Prereq. status unknown
ECON-1A
ECON-1B
78.5%
79.1%
58.2%
79.1%
65.4%
60.0%
Higher success rates are observed for those students who have
completed the Algebra sequence in advance of their enrollment in
Economics. But, is the association between completion of
Intermediate Algebra with success in Economics classes due to
students completing the Algebra sequence, or is it possible that other
factors, such as pre-existing differences between Algebra sequence
completers and Algebra sequence non-completers, are responsible for
differences in average success rates in Economics courses?
Other factors which influence success in Economics
Statistical analysis suggests that level of Math preparation alone
explains only about 5% of the variance in success between the group
who met the hypothetical prerequisite as compared with those who did
not. It would appear that success in an Economics course can be
attributed to a mix of factors. When attempting to account for success
in Economics courses, there are likely other variables with equal or
greater explanatory power.
Ratio of students receiving a grade of A, B, C, or Pass to the number enrolled on the
census roster. Data are from academic years 2000-01 through 2009-10.
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Two additional student variables were added to the statistical model.
Ethnicity, in the form of underrepresented or not, and students’
cumulative Cabrillo grade point average (GPA) were included. Each of
these proved to be statistically significant in relation to success in
economics courses.
Together, the three variables account for about one-third of the
variance in student success in Economics. The strongest association is
with students’ prior cumulative GPA. Algebra completion comes
second, with about half the explanatory power as compared with GPA.
Underrepresented status has a negative influence on course success in
economics, but the influence is weaker than Algebra completion. It
appears that overall academic readiness (based on prior academic
success) has more to do with success in an Economics course than
does the level of Math achievement.5
Summary
Instituting a prerequisite of completion of Intermediate Algebra for
Economics courses would substantially reduce enrollment. It would
potentially affect up to half of the students who are taking Economics
today. It would likely have a disproportionate impact on
underrepresented students. Even though Intermediate Algebra
completion is correlated with success in Economics courses,
multivariate statistical analysis reveals that Algebra completion has a
relatively small predictive value, and that general academic
preparedness is a stronger predictor of success.
For Econ1A, the beta values for the predictors are: GPA=.490, completed
Intermediate Algebra=.225 and underrepresented status=-.162 with R square= .256.
5
For Econ1B, the beta values for the predictors are: GPA=.469, completed
Intermediate Algebra=.232 and underrepresented status=-.120 with R square= .238.
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