A group of Basic Math classes at Florida State College at Jacksonville improved from a 66.75% passing rate in Fall 2011 to 84.5% average in Fall 2012 after using Learning Upgrade courses.

Dr. Sarae Mathews shared the results from her Basic Math MAT0018 classes.  Students completed the Pre-Alebra Upgrade 60-lesson online course from Learning Upgrade. In addition, they completed the Math XL program traditionally used in the classes.

With the addition of the Pre-Algebra Upgrade in the 2012 school year, scores improved significantly for the classes:

This semester my overall success rate was 85%, which signifies a huge improvement for this course. In addition, I had no Withdrawals. 

Here’s the breakdown.
TR 5:30 class: 83% success
15 out of 18 passed with an A, B, or C
3 failed with an F or FN (failure for nonattendance)

MW 1:00 class: 81% success
17 out of 21 passed with an A, B, or C
1 received a D
1 signed a contract for an I (incomplete) grade – she has up to 8 wks to finish her work
2 failed with an F or FN

MW 10:00 class: 89% success
17 out of 19 passed with an A, B, or C
2 failed with an FN

TR 1:00 class: 85% success
17 out of 20 passed with an A, B, or C
1 received a D
2 failed with an F or FN

I think the following contributed to these great results: 

• by front loading the course with LearningUpgrade lessons, the foundation was laid for the MathXL work 
• LearningUpgrade was most engaging – it “forced” the students to WORK intently the first month of the term
• 45% of the students completed the course early, by Thanksgiving, so I could spend more time helping the slower learners.

 Feedback from Students: 

LU was engaging:   SA & A    91%

LU was easy to complete:   SA & A    77%

LU was clear:   SA & A    82%

LU helped me with MathXL:   SA & A    96%

I liked LU online program:   SA & A    69%

I feel prepared for Elementary Algebra:   SA & A    100%

I feel I am more successful in solving math problems:   SA & A    100%

Dr. Matthews plans to continue using the Learning Upgrade courses in the Basic Math classes for next semester and develop best practices to improve the passing rate.