Algebra

The purpose of this study was to develop a model to predict success in college algebra and in Associate in Arts graduation, and to examine the relationship between placing in one or more developmental education courses and Associate in Arts graduation. The study was conducted at a large urban community college in Palm Beach County, Florida with 1,142 first-time-in-college students who took the College Placement Test (CPT) as their entrance examination. The study was designed to determine whether students' gender, age, ethnicity, grade point average (GPA), English language proficiency, nontraditional status, placement scores and number of developmental courses could predict a students' success in college algebra and graduating with the Associate in Arts degree, and how placing in one or more developmental course was correlated with graduating with the Associate in Arts degree. Three research hypotheses were developed to determine any significant predictive ability among the variables studied. Hypotheses 1 and 2 used discriminant analysis to determine the predicative ability of identified variables and hypothesis 3 used a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient to assess the relationship of placing into one or more developmental courses on graduating with the Associate in Arts degree. All hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance. The results of the study indicated that for hypothesis 1 the variables of GPA, number of developmental courses, level of mathematics courses and mathematics placement score were all significant predictors. For hypothesis 2, the variables of GPA, placement scores in reading and writing, and the number of developmental courses were all significant predictors. For hypothesis 3, the number of developmental courses that a student tested into did have a significant relationship with the student's receiving an Associate in Arts degree. The results are discussed in relation to ensuring that students are better prepared for college-level work by a series of recommendations relating to collaborative efforts between community colleges and local high school districts. In addition, recommendations are made to re-align the developmental mathematics curriculum to effectively prepare students for subsequent college-level mathematics courses.

The purpose of this study was to determine if urban high school mathematics teachers' attitudes toward the algebra mandate could be predicted by the variables: years of teaching mathematics, college major, highest college degree, gender, and ethnicity. Toward this end, the Attitude Toward the Algebra Mandate Survey (TATAMS) was administered to 98 high school mathematics teachers drawn from a total population of 493 who were employed by the School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida, during the 1998--1999 School Year. The study was carried out in June 1999, roughly 20 months after the mandate became effect in Florida. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test each hypothesis and to provide a model that was. predict of teacher attitudes. Five null hypotheses were formed to determine if there were significant relationships between teacher attitudes toward the algebra mandate and the aforementioned variables. The results of the tests of five null hypotheses showed that the hypotheses that involved years of teaching mathematics and ethnicity was rejected. These five predictor variables accounted for 27% of the variance in teacher attitudes. The inference drawn from the study was that the negative attitudes of veteran White teachers and the positive attitudes of Hispanic teachers toward the mandate appear to have their roots in political and social considerations. Black teachers, on the other hand, have never challenged for the power in the district and are moderate in their attitudes toward the mandate.