Identifying differences in student traditionalities of remedial math students, adjusted for efficacy

The unpreparedness students have for college level math continues to challenge leadership in higher education when designing effective developmental curriculum. Diversely demographic classrooms; composed of both traditional and nontraditional students, may further complicate the instructors task when facilitating remedial courses. A convenience sample of 109 students at an open enrollment private college was evaluated for differences in math efficacy, pre-assessment scores, attendance, and final grade based on student traditionality. A three part survey included a Math Foundations Self Efficacy Scale (MFSES), a Student Demographic Survey (SDS) based on National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) characteristics for determining student traditionality, and a Basic Mathematics Inventory (BMI) pre-assessment quiz. The NCES defines students as traditional, minimally nontraditional, moderately nontraditional, or highly nontraditional based on seven demographic characteristics. The findings from this nonexperimental multivariate quantitative study indicated that no differences for student efficacies or math performance measured by the Computerized Adaptive Placement Assessment and Support Systems (COMPASS), student attendance, and final grade occurred in a developmental remedial math course based on based on student NCES traditionality. Analysis revealed that student performance for all traditionalities was influenced by efficacy; thus supporting germinal research about efficacy conducted by Bandura