Joyce LindstromDorrit O’Hallaron

Dot PetersonJackie Radle

St. Charles Community College

Tapping the Creative Energy

of Adjuncts

SCC Adjunct Presenters•Dorrit O’Hallaron

• Full-time turned adjunct and loving it!

•Dot Peterson• Dynamic veteran teacher from local K-12 district who captivates her high school audiences

•Jackie Radle• Young, vibrant professional teaching part-time while she raises her family

What percent of high school

seniors take math?

Trivia Question 1

What percent of high school

seniors take math?

54%

Trivia Question 1

Trivia Question 2

What percent of students who took math their senior year place at Intermediate Algebra or above on the SCC Math Placement Test?

Trivia Question 2

What percent of students who took math their senior year place at

Intermediate Algebra or above on the SCC Math Placement Test?

11.9%

Student

Preparation

Student

Engagement

Studen

t Success

Achieving Success in Mathematics

At St. Charles Community College

Achieving Success in Mathematics atSt. Charles Community College

The purpose of this booklet and presentation is to help high school students become more

knowledgeable of the placement process and time-management issues as they prepare to begin college.

It is important to take a math class every year of high school, including the senior year. This

will help students to be more prepared for the placement test, which determines the math class that one is eligible to take during their first semester at SCC. While remedial classes are certainly useful and necessary, they do not count as credits toward a degree. It is our goal for students to be placed where they have the best chance for success; thus, it is very important to understand the placement process.

When the placement process is complete, it is time to plan the first semester. Careful

planning is vital to success in every college semester. Instructors expect students to spend at least twice the amount of class time outside of class to complete assignments and to study. Recognizing the time demands of college work and managing one's schedule to accommodate these demands are essential to academic success. And we want you to be successful!

Plan for Success in College Mathematics

Junior Year

1.) SCC Placement Exam - Understand your placement skill level.

2.) Take the ACT

Plan for Success in College Mathematics

Senior Year

– Take Math your senior year. – Take the ACT– Visit the SCC Math Department Website an

practice the SCC Placement Test– (Practice, Practice, Practice)

Registering for Classes:– Take the Math Placement Exam early and Register for

Classes EARLY.• (Allow 1 hour for the exam.)

– SCC Placement Exam has a drop down calculator.

– If you feel the Math Placement is inaccurate, follow the Appeal Process.

Plan for Success in College Mathematics

Plan for Success in Mathematics

1.) You must stay in your Math sequence.

2.) ACE Center has FREE tutoring help (Also tutoring in Language Arts and Science.)

3.) Visit with your instructor for FREE help during their Office Hours.

SCC Transfer

SCC math students have reported successful transitions to a 4-year

colleges and universities.

SCC Math Department• • Math Department website: www.stchas.edu/divisions/msh/mathindex.shtml• • You can prepare for:•• Pre-Algebra• • Algebra• • Geometry• • Trigonometry• • College Algebra• • Your math course determination is done using your Math Placement Test. If this is not where you think you should be,

you must meet with an SCC counselor, and take a re-assessment test on paper. This is submitted on a computer, and then your grade decides your ‘new placement’. Your final appeal is with the department chair. The math chair looks at your high school transcript and your ACT score. After the math chair, there are no more appeals available.

• • Calculus students can place in Calculus II if they pass the Calculus AB test with a 3, 4 or 5 and they receive 5 hours of

SCC credit. If they pass the Calculus BC test with a 3, 4, or 5, they will receive 10 hours of SCC credit and be placed in Calculus III. There is no higher placement available. If they do not pass the AP Calculus test, they must take the compass placement test.

Math Placement Exam

The math placement exam is used to place students into the math course that corresponds to their current math skill level.  All entering freshmen and transfer students who have not yet obtained a grade of "C" or better in a transfer math course are required to take this placement exam.  We use an ACT product called Compass as our placement tool. 

On this placement exam, the on-screen calculator may be used.  However, knowledge of basic mathematical concepts including computation with fractions, decimals, and signed numbers is still a necessary pre-requisite skill.  We recommend that all high school students continually review basic computation skills and take math their senior year in order to maintain and retain their math skills prior to entering college.  The following Web sites provide practice exercises for preparing for our Compass placement exam.  Try working these exercises without using your calculator. http://www.testprepreview.com/  (select Compass Practice, then choose appropriate modules)

www.act.org/compass/sample/  (select mathematics then select content areas to view short sample tests OR select PDF versions which provide more sample questions)

www.cs.umsl.edu/PlacementTest/ (This is the University of Missouri-St. Louis Math Department webpage with practice exercises)

mathonline.missouri.edu (This math site is offered through the University of Missouri-Columbia and provides many sample tests.)

http://www.mymathtest.com/ (This site is sponsored by the Mathematics Department at Nassau Community College and Addison-Wesley.  It provides several practice tests.)

Sample Test

• Six Questions• Ten Minutes

Placement Information

• 1.) b 2.) b 3.) d 4.) d 5.) a 6.) c• ScoreMath Placement Credit Hours• 1 Dev Math I 0• 2,3 Dev Math II 0• 4 Beg Alg 0• 5,6 Int Alg 0

*College Algebra 4Needed to Graduate from a Missouri University

Scheduling for Success

Time Management Tool

High School Teacher Feedback

Trivia Question 3

What percent of high school seniors take math

after hearing the SCC presentation as a junior?

Did Not Hear Presentation on Taking Mathn=931 students

Heard Presentation on Taking Mathn=305 students

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

54%

85%

Percent of High School Seniors Taking Math in Senior Year

% of Students

Taking Math

Effect Hearing SCC Presentation Has on Taking Math During the Senior Year of High School

Trivia Question 4

What percent of students who took math their senior year

place at Intermediate Algebra or above on the SCC Math

Placement Test after hearing the SCC presentation as juniors?

yes/yesn=258

yes/non=47

no/yesn=506

no/non=425

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

74.0%

91.5%

88.1%

95.5%

26.0%

8.5%

11.9%

4.5%

Remedial Placement Placement Success

Heard Presentation/Took Senior Math

Remedial PlacementBelow math placement,MAT095, MAT096, MAT098

Successful Placement MAT121, MAT150, MAT160

Impact of SCC Presentation and Senior Year Math on

College Math Placement

Cost of SCC Outreach Program to High School

JuniorsAfter development of booklet, cost to deliver message to high school juniors:

Adjunct Compensation + Booklet PrintingNumber of Students Hearing Presentation

$9302.50 + $2491.173622

$3.26 per student

This project has been funded by the

St. Charles Community

College Foundation

Additional Activities of Adjunct Group

Joyce Lindstromjlindstrom@stchas.edu

Dorrit O’Hallarondohallaron@stchas.edu

Dot Petersondotpete2@yahoo.com

Jackie Radlejradle@stchas.edu

Questions?