FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Contact: Robert Preston, Jr.,
912.260.4276
robert.preston@sgc.edu
SGC Selected as One of Eight Pilot Sites in the U.S.
for Carnegie Foundation Mathway Project
Mathematics courses are some of the most important, and
often most challenging, on any college campus. Despite the struggles
mathematics students face, mathematics remains vital to college students
regardless of their majors. Every career has some kind of mathematics
requirements, and mathematics develops those skills that allow students to
take complex problems and organize them into concise, manageable situations.
Nationally, up to 70 percent of community college students referred to
developmental mathematics do not successfully complete the sequence of
required courses. Many spend multiple semesters taking these courses,
spending a great deal of time and money on a veritable treadmill of remedial
mathematics. For these students, their college careers end right there –
when they grow weary of repeating the classes, they often drop out of
school.
To help combat this problem, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching has developed a new Mathway initiative to revise the curriculum for
students not enrolled in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
(STEM) degree programs. The newly formed Collaboratory is made up of eight
high-performing community colleges across the nation and includes South
Georgia College. As a result, SGC is eligible for up to $60,000 in grant
funds over the next three years.
As a part of the program, SGC will alter the course sequence students must
navigate as they complete their remedial mathematics requirements.
Currently, students in remedial mathematics must complete as many as two
remedial mathematics classes before they can enroll in their first
college-level mathematics course. Under the Collaboratory’s revamped
program, students would take a new one-semester course, Mathematical
Literacy for College Students, followed by a college level mathematics
class. The goal of Mathway is to provide mathematics fundamentals that will
equip students with the essential quantitative skills and knowledge needed
in academic programs and in the workplace. The Mathway experience will begin
with a single course leading to a college-level transferrable mathematics
course. It will emphasize the internal connections of mathematics and the
uses of mathematics, as opposed to a discrete set of procedures and
memorization tasks. This new experience encompasses the foundations of
mathematical literacy and prepares students to enter a college-level
mathematics course such as quantitative reasoning and college algebra for
non-STEM students.
While the Collaboratory’s project offers the benefit of a shortened time
period for students to complete mathematics requirements; the most
innovative aspect is its intensive student engagement component in the
classroom that is designed to generate student tenacity and other essential
qualities for overall academic success. SGC will receive $25,000 in funding
from the Carnegie Foundation the first year (2010-2011 academic year) and
second year followed by another $10,000 in additional funds in the third and
final year.
“At SGC, our first priority is to enhance student success, so we are very
pleased to have been chosen for this new national initiative by the Carnegie
Foundation. We look forward to this opportunity to partner with others to
help students increase their achievement in mathematics,” says Dr. Virginia
Carson, SGC President.
Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an Act of
Congress, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an
independent policy and research center. Its current mission is to support
needed transformations in American education through tighter connections
between teaching practice, evidence of student learning, the communication
and use of this evidence, and structured opportunities to build knowledge.
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About South Georgia College
South Georgia College (www.sgc.edu)
was founded in 1906 and is an accredited two-year institution in the
University System of Georgia. Located in Douglas, Ga., the college's
environment gives students exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary
study and close collaboration with faculty. With over 20 majors and transfer
opportunities, South Georgia College provides the finest education possible
to the citizens of its service area.
