Anticipated Date of Graduation

Summer 2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mathematical Sciences

Department

Mathematics

First Advisor

Douglas Darbro

Abstract

Colleges and universities are striving to have their campuses become equitable with students of any socioeconomic class having the capability of being successful. Unfortunately, there are specific classes of students that have noticeably lower success rates in college and, since colleges are a critical link for students to transition from high school to their career fields, this makes their success crucial. Community Colleges render higher education accessible to students at low cost and less prerequisite skills. This leads to higher enrollment of students that are experiencing these gaps in success. Each college must conduct research on the own student body to determine if any class of student is encountering a noticeable difference in success. Colleges also encounter many students that are underprepared in mathematics and must take developmental math courses. It is imperative that students are successful in the developmental math courses or college success is more challenging. Research was conducted at Zane State College with the purpose of identifying social equity differences within the mathematics department and create a model of academic success in mathematics. This is to providie statistical evidence for the college to build upon when making decisions. A forward logistics regression analysis was conducted along with a test of independence for each variable and academic success. Social equity gaps were present in students that are lower income and minority. However, first generation status did not render an equity gap. Developmental math courses exhibited an extremely low level of student success with a 40% success rate. Lastly, dual enrollment students had an extremely high level of success, with a 94% success rate.

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