THE PROJECT

College Persistence Coalition

Supporting student success across the math pathway from high school to college: A collaboration with the College Persistence Coalition and LaGuardia Community College

THE CONTEXT & CHALLENGE

Student pass rates in Gateway math courses at LaGuardia Community College sit just under 50%, meaning that half of all students fail a critical course in determining their likelihood of graduating. In our partnership with the College Persistence Coalition, we’re asking why that is and how we can enhance student success in these courses.

THE PARTNERSHIP & APPROACH

The College Persistence Coalition partners with K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and workforce organizations to build more connected pathways to postsecondary success.
LaGuardia Community College is an open-access college located in New York City (Queens). It serves over 25,000 students from over 139 countries, representing every continent but Antarctica, and has been applauded as a national champion of supporting social mobility.
To address these questions, our partnership is taking a multi-layered approach. First, we are convening a group of college math faculty to provide a professional learning community experience. As participating fellows, these faculty are engaging in professional development to build knowledge about learning mindset supportive practices and evidence-based pedagogies that enhance student success, and subsequently, to use this knowledge to test strategies in their classrooms to improve student success.
Second, we are implementing a new dual enrollment version of the gateway math course with local high schools, providing students with an opportunity to engage with the material presented in these gateway math courses before reaching college. We convene high school teachers as a part of the partnership to co-teach this course with college math faculty, and in turn these teachers join professional development sessions.
- This second piece is critical to bridge the gap between high school and college for students, building a more cohesive pathway in a space where there is often a lack of cohesion. These components fuse structural, curricular, and pedagogical elements together in a holistic effort to enhance student success.

THE LEARNINGS

Although implementation is still ongoing, early anecdotal evidence from our fellows suggests that they are seeing evidence of improved engagement and learning from students. Withdrawal rates are lower than usual, students are more engaged in class when they attend, and the fellows have been willing to break the status quo and try new strategies in their classrooms, whether it be through group work pedagogies or integrating mindset supportive messages into their communications with students.

NEXT STEPS

In the immediate future, we will analyze the results of this initial partnership at the end of the semester when we have official student withdrawal rates and grades in hand. Moving forward, our aim is to continue this partnership with more LaGuardia Community College math faculty, in addition to implementing our holistic model with more colleges and their high school dual enrollment course partners.