In the fall of 1998, the Assessment and Improvement of Student Learning Committee met to discuss data collection and sampling. It was agreed at that time that a stratified random sample would be gathered from the student population. There were a total of 1,444 students that could have been chosen as part of the study. Eight-six (86) students pursuing an Associate of Applied Science degree were chosen, out of a potential 603 students. One hundred twenty (120) students pursuing an Associate of Arts, Associate of General Studies, or Associate of Science degrees were chosen from a possible 841 students. Table 1 summarizes these pools.

The Assessment Coordinator evaluated each student’s On-Course and discovered that most of the students in the selected sample were ineligible to participate in the study. The criteria for this decision was that students must have been first-time freshman in 1998 and must have returned for fall 1999 classes. Tables 2 and 3 enumerate the number of students in each category of eligibility for the study cohort selection.

Thus, from 206 chosen for the original cohort, only 60 were eligible to participate. The committee agreed that the smaller cohort would still be valid. For the fall semester of 1999, 50 "eligible" students were identified to participate in the study.

Students identifying themselves as degree-seeking candidates are required to take the Accuplacer test unless they have already taken the ACT or SAT or have already completed college courses. The Accuplacer test assists advisors in placing students in classes appropriate to a student’s abilities. (See Appendix B for the Accuplacer Advisement Guide). Seventeen students chosen as participants in this study did not have Accuplacer scores. Of those 17, five (5) had ACT composite scores high enough to waive the Accuplacer test. Of the remaining twelve students with no placement test scores, five (5) were AAS degree-seeking and seven (7) were AA, AS, or AGS degree-seeking students. The following table summarizes the Accuplacer results for all 60 students in the final cohort:

*General education requirements requirement for AAS degrees require a student to complete MAT 110 or above.

**Some students have taken remedial math, but have not completed their degree program and still lack the math requirement.

The following table identifies those students completing the degree requirements in each respective group or identifying why they have not completed a degree:

The majority of the non-completers simply lack adequate hours toward their degree. Some students did not complete a degree for other reasons, however. For example, some moved away or quit school for personal reasons. Some of these will undoubtedly complete their degrees in more than the normal two-year timeframe.