Math Performance Success Program –
10 years of success!
Barbara Illowsky
Herminio Hernando
De Anza College
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Outcomes for Today’s Webinar
Participants will learn how to:
• Develop and implement a model that works on their
campuses
• Calculate the costs of running such a program
• Market the course to their stakeholders, including
the high risk students
• Navigate the internal political processes of piloting
a program
• Assess and evaluate the program on their
campuses
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Background: challenges
Low developmental education
mathematics single course success rate
(pre-alg., elem. alg., interm. alg.)
Low progression rate through
developmental ed courses to reach
transfer course
Students starting in devel. ed.
mathematics courses not reaching their
educational goals
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Solution
Develop a program that incorporates
intensive student services
Same course content at same level as
other sections
Same faculty teach both MPS and nonMPS sections
Throughout: evaluate faculty success in
MPS versus faculty success in “status
quo”
Must be sustainable, scalable and
adaptable
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History
1999 – pilot for African-American
males
2000 – opened to all students with 2+
failures in starting course
2002 – CA Community Colleges
Exemplary Program Award
2006 – added pre-algebra starting
course
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History (cont.)
2008 – added non-fall starting cohorts
2008 – Hewlett Foundation Student
Success Award (statewide)
2009 – part-time faculty offered
sections
2009 – MPS listed as a BSI model
program
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Double class
time
Team
approach
High risk
students
Program
Structure
Student
cohorts
Counseling
Active
learning
Student
tutors
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Program Structure
High risk
students
• Demonstrated history – lack of success in
mathematics
• Low self-confidence
• Majority of students from special programs
(EOPS, DSS, Puente, Umoja, …)
• High percent of diagnosed & undiagnosed
learning disabilities
• Over representation from under represented
groups
• Referrals from instructors, counselors, …
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Program Structure
Counseling
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•
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Application
Program Orientation
Contract
Explicit student expectations
In-class
Pull-outs
Academic & personal
Frequent contacts
Student success workshops
Noncompliance 
termination
Program Structure
Student tutors
•
•
•
•
•
•
In-class: daily
Tutorial Center: ≈ 50 hours/week
Individual attention
Study groups
Consistent
Mandatory attendance when grades
< 70% at any point in term
• Many former tutors are former MPS
student
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Program Structure
Active learning
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mini-lectures followed by group work
Time for practice
Time for students to help each other
Small group discussion
Collaborative learning
Time for instructors to review work for every
student, every day
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Program Structure
Cohorts
• 2 course sequences
• Elem. Alg.  Interm. Alg. 
Statistics (transfer)
• Pre-Alg.  Elem. Alg. 
Interm. Alg.  Statistics
(transfer)
• Start each quarter
• Bonding & sense of common
purpose
• Instructor follows cohorts
• Relationships lead to motivation
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to succeed
Program Structure
Double time
•
•
•
•
•
2 hours per day
Double load for instructor
Same number of units for students
Double WSCH (CA funding)
Required student attendance
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Program Structure
Team approach
• Faculty: instructors & counselors
• Faculty: weekly meetings
Plan activities
Discuss common problems
Give & get advice
Support group
• Common exams & assessments
• Speakers
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MPS video
http://nebula.deanza.edu/PSME_Division/
MPS-Videos.html
(all part of URL with no spaces or returns)
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Quote - counselor
“Students in MPS develop a higher level of
self-confidence once they are successful in
math. This increase in self-confidence
carries over to other classes they are
taking. In short, MPS students' success in
math helps them to develop the skills,
attitudes and self-confidence necessary to
be successful in their other classes.”
Herminio Hernando, Counselor for MPS
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Student testimonial
School wise MPS is the best thing that has
happened in my life. Math is a difficult subject,
but thanks to the professor, tutors, and
counselors, I am completing my math
requirements for my major. The teachers and
tutors really make math a lot less complicated
and make it somewhat fun. I strongly
recommend the program to students that don’t
have a strong background in math.
Saul Gembe
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Student testimonial
When I first started out, I had no idea how
intense the class was going to be. The labs,
Homework, projects, exams, quizzes,
etc…were overwhelming to me, but, as the
weeks went by I understood why all this was
necessary. I began to understand why and
how things in the program worked. I was no
longer overwhelmed and felt confident again
that I am smart enough for math.
Emily Ikuta
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Student testimonial
The MPS Program has definitely helped me
understand Math. In the past, it was very
difficult to grasp different concepts. Now, I find
myself at times helping other people with it.
Godfrey Ramos
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Research questions
Given that the same content and material must
be mastered:
1.How do the grades of students in the MPS
program compare with the grades for
students not in the program for the same
course and term?
2.Do MPS students persist through to higher
level math courses at a higher rate than
students not in the program?
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Cumulative data: 2001 – 2010
MPS
Pre-Algebra
non-MPS
Total
Perc.
Total
Perc.
HC
Pass
HC
Pass
126
73.0%
1980
55.4%
823
76.7%
9945
55.6%
850
82.1%
9419
57.9%
626
89.9%
7899
62.2%
F: 06-09
Elem. Algebra
F: 01-09, W: 07-10
Inter. Algebra
W: 02-10, S: 07-09
Statistics
S: 02-09, F: 08
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Cumulative “Pass”: 2001 – 2010
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Individual “Star” Faculty
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Instructors
Politics
Training
Growing
Pains
Facilities
Counselors
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Growing Pains
Instructors
• Must commit to a cohort for year
• Emotionally exhausting
• 15 different full & part-time faculty
to date
• Can’t do the “same ol’ thing”
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Growing Pains
Training
• Weekly – faculty & tutors
• Common available times
• Extensive for part-timer
faculty
• Recruiting tutors
Growing Pains
Counselors
• Need additional
• Dilution of services
• Fall 2010 – 750+ applications for 220 spots
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Growing Pains
Facilities
• Rooms needed for double time
• Each additional MPS section means
another regular section NOT offered
• Shortage of classrooms on campus
• Evening sections means 4 nights/week
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Growing Pains
Politics
• Conflicting philosophies among
administrators
• Battle of turf – “mis”distribution
of resources
• Need to admit that in
expansion, lower success rates
are inevitable
Math Performance
Success Program:
Too Costly or Really Profitable?
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Program costs:
initial investment
• Double faculty time (double the load)
– But double the contact hours generated
for state aid
• Dedicated counselor time (estimated at
$100,000 per year)
• Peer tutoring dollars ($15,000 per year)
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Traditional Economic Reality
• Colleges, especially community colleges,
are set up to think in terms of fiscal
periods (usually fiscal years)
• Simplistically, this year’s salaries, fixed
costs, & variable costs seemingly need to
be offset by this year’s revenues from
FTES apportionment
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Return on Investment Model
Developed by Dr. Robert Johnstone, RP
Group, as a part of the California
Community Colleges Basic Skills Initiative
http://www.cccbsi.org
http://rpgroup.org
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A Different (?) Way of Thinking
• We could think about deviating from our
“traditional” model toward a return-oninvestment (ROI) approach
• Under this approach, we use our
“traditional” model as the baseline for
costs and revenue
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Incremental Revenue
• Successful alternate programs have the
following outcomes:
– Increased course retention
– Increased course success rates
– Increased persistence
– Increased progression to college-level work
– Increase in overall units attempted / earned
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How do we calculate ROI?
• FTES (full-time equivalent student)
• In California, community colleges generate
≈$4,500 per FTES in apportionment
Note: Model applies in states where state
apportionment is combined with tuition, etc.
• The incremental FTES generated in
successful alternative programs can, in
many cases, offset the incremental costs
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Caveats …
• This approach runs into an issue if a
system caps college enrollments and the
college is at or near its enrollment cap
• Bumping up against the cap number as a
result of newly successful basic skills
students would be a good problem to have
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Other disciplines
• English, reading, ESL
• Extra in-class time: peer editing, small
group conversations, public speeches,
research in libraries
• Other components remain the same
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Planning for scalability,
including navigating the politics
☺ EDUCATE, EDUCATE, EDUCATE!!!
Student Body
Grant funders
Counselors
Administration
☺ Data – Institutional Researcher is BFF
☺ ROI – dispute Perceived Cost of scaling
and show financial incentive
☺ Moral, ethical and societal reasons
☺ Concrete plan
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Assessment
• Extremely complicated
• Compare faculty against themselves
• Goals:
large n
variety of faculty
variety of times of day
over several years
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Assessment (cont.)
• Assistance of Instructional Researcher
• Acknowledge non-randomness
student self-selection
lower success rates than comparison
group (previous failures)
• Try not to be defensive!
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Resources
Free downloads at:
http://www.cccbsi.org/literature-review
http://rpgroup.org
Literature Review:
Basic Skills as a Foundation for Student Success in
California Community Colleges (pdf)
Cost-Revenue Tool (Excel)
illowskybarbara@deanza.edu
hernandoherminio@deanza.edu
You can do it!
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