The mission of the Mathematics Department is to meet the mathematics needs of all Butte College students by offering quality mathematics instruction. Our department serves three primary groups of students: developmental, transfer, and STEM majors. Through our commitment to excellent teaching in a supportive environment, our students develop mathematical expertise, comprehension, and confidence. A corollary to our mission is to accelerate students in developmental math classes as quickly as possible, enabling them to finish their math courses with a passing grade in a transfer-level math class within two years of enrolling at Butte College.
The mathematics department offers a comprehensive two-year program leading to an Associate of Science Degree in Mathematics. The AS-T degree in Mathematics is designed for students who will transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a degree in mathematics. The program allows the students to transfer with all of their freshman and sophomore requirements completed. The mathematics department also offers courses designed as general education courses for other majors (complete list available) and a complete developmental and basic skills program for students who need remediation before entering a transfer-level mathematics course. Most math classes offered on the main campus are scheduled in the Technology (TE) building. The TE building has nine classrooms and a math-only computer lab, used as a drop-in lab open to all Butte students taking a math class, and is of particular value to those taking a class that requires online homework. We also have been given full access to LB-105 and LB-106B. We have continued the use of Supplemental Instruction (SI) in many transfer classes and The Math Project in Math 217, 108, 124, and 18 for EOPS students. Grant funding provided an embedded retention specialist in our Math 217 classes in fall 2017. With its success, the program has expanded to provide this opportunity to students in Math 217, Math 216, and some Math 108 classes in spring 2018.
Mathematics Instructor (although it wasn't in the unit plan)
As a result of this hire, we were able to avoid canceling 10 sections of math for the 2017-2018 academic year. In addition, this instructor has been instrumental in bringing back Math 216 and ensuring that students who have been misplaced will not spend their semester in a class they don't need.
Seventy-nine TI-84 graphing calculators and rechargable batteries for use in Math 18 classes.
This represents one tenth of the funding that was requested for these calculators. The original intent was to provided a calculator to all Math 18 students to use during the semester free of charge. We will now be offering 2 - 3 students per class this benefit based on student need. Most students who take Math 18 only need the calculator for that one class. We were hoping to reduce the financial burden on our students placed on them by the SLO requiring them to demonstrate the ability to use technology to carry out statistical analyses.
We have seen a stabilization of our success rates in Math 217 since the implementation of the ALEKS program and the extra support provided to students in those classes. We have yet to explore the data that will tell us how successful students in Math 217 are doing as they progress through their future math classes. Faculty report that students are responding well to this attention, particularly the assistance they receive regarding persistance. Based on data from the report server and faculty SLO Reflections we have found that in several classes during fall 2017, we saw a fairly dramatic decrease in student success. These classes include Math 13, 26, 30, 108, and 124. One change from fall 2016 to fall 2017 was the implementation of Multiple Measures for assessing student placement into their math classes. Many are now being placed based on their self-reporting of high school math grades and GPA. We will need data to validate the use of multiple measures as we noticed many students did not demonstrate they had mastered the Student Learning Outcomes of their classes. Math 26 was particularly troubling as there was talk all semester about how instructors felt their students were not as prepared as in the past. We did administer a Deep Dive in those classes, but as it was our first time, we have nothing to measure it against. However, as we looked at success rates of around 66% from the previous four fall semesters, and compare it to the fall of 2017 where 50% of the students succeeded, there appears to be a significant difference.
A review of our success data for the last 5 years shows that there has not been much change overall. Success rates don’t differ by more than .5 % from 63.1% – 63.6%. However, as stated earlier, there was been a marked decrease in the success rates for certain classes in the fall of 2017. It could be that this is just an anomaly, or it could be due in part to the implementation of the new Multiple Measures procedure for placing students into their math classes. We will need more data and we should go through a validation process for the new assessment procedure. The success rate for our remedial math classes may look like it has decreased once the data for fall 2017 becomes available due to the addition of Math 216. However, for the last 5 years, it has hovered just above 50%, for the most part. We hope to see this increase as we refine the role of the retention specialist in Math 217.
It is nice to see that the total number of math degrees we provide has been increasing steadily since the 2012-13 academic year. During that year, we awarded 2 degrees in math, and in the 2016-17 academic year, we awarded 21. This data includes AA/AS degrees as well as AA-T/AS-T degrees. We have increased our outreach to Math Majors in the last year, creating a bulletin board for them, getting together with them at least once per semester, and giving them access to information about the various Math Degrees at CSUC, in particular. One class that we don’t offer, but which CSUC math majors take in their sophomore year, is Methods of Proof. Many of our students cross enroll in their sophomore year to avoid getting behind once they transfer, as this class is a prerequisite for many of their upper division math classes.
- Incorporating the use of laptops, student assistants and a retention specialist in Math 217. (1.a.2.)
- Hoping to provide graphing calculators to all Math 18 students free of charge. (1.a.2)
- Continuing to serve College Connection students in many math classes and encouraging 2+2 agreements with local districts. (1.b.1.)
- Working with the assessment office on the implementation of Multiple Measures to ensure students' proper placement into math classes. (1.c.2.)
- Providing an AS-T degree in Mathematics. (1.e.3.)
- Increasing the number of Transfer/GE classes that are in high demand and decreasing the number of (and restructuring) Developmental classes as demand decreases. (1.f.1.) and (4.1.)
- Being ready to renovate the Technology Building. (1.h.1.)
- Incorporating a retention specialist in Math 217, with the hopes of expanding to Math 108 in the near future. (2.a.4.)
The 13 recommendations from our validation report dated March 2014 are:
1. The Technology building renovation is at the bottom of the list for use of bond money, but we do have a remodeled women's restroom in addition to an all-gender restroom and new carpet.
2. We continue to ask for our building to be renamed and the signs changed in our Unit Plan, but this has yet to occur.
3. We were able to increase the number of full-time faculty members to 17, and have been approved for an additional 3 full-time hires to start fall 2018. This will bring our department up to its largest ever at 20 full time instructors. We still continue to see a decrease in our associate faculty pool and remain concerned that we will be unable to staff the same number of classes that we currently offer. We hope our pool will increase with the return of the Master's in Math Ed. at Chico State.
4. All of our rooms in the Technology building (except 105B) were fitted with up to date equipment and other than the occasional glitch, it is working well.
5. With the help of some grant funding we have developed a combined beginning and intermediate algebra course which is being piloted this spring with one section, increasing to two sections each semester next year.
6. We hope to validate and refine the use of multiple measures to more accurately place students into their first math class.
7. We have been given access to evening classroom space in Chico for fall 2017 both at the Chico and Skyway Centers. This will eliminate our courses held on Chico State's campus and the many problems associated with that location.
8. We continue to have a difficult time finding tutors for the Chico and Glenn Centers.
9. In our Unit Plan, we continue to ask for district funding for the math lab. However, since money continues to come to us from Basic Skills Funding, there is little incentive for the district to contribute.
10. This recommendation suggests that we look at our data for classes below transfer all together under the title "Developmental Math." This would group 200 level classes with 100 level classes. Currently, Math 217 and Math 216 are the only classes contributing to our data reports. This has not been resolved.
11. During our last several large department meetings on Institute Day, we have held our meeting later than the rest of the campus to accommodate our Associate Faculty who have day jobs. The change in timing on Institute Day contributed to our Associate Faculty feeling marginalized and unimportant. Our recent meetings have included an hour to an hour and a half in break-out sessions where we specifically sought the contributions of ALL our faculty members. Last spring with SLO funds, we hosted a SLO discussion dinner for all our faculty. We had tables for Math 108, Math 124, and Math 18 instructors to gather. We had lively conversations over dinner and the sharing of information was quite valuable. There will likely be one or two department meetings this spring where all will be invited to attend. However, since we offer classes from 7:20 am to 9:50 pm, the only time we can hope to all get together is on a Friday evening. The most convenient place for the vast majority would be at the Chico Center, which closes early on Fridays. We are looking into the possibility of holding a meeting at the Skyway Center, but it doesn't look promising.
12. We continue to praise and heavily use the print shop and are supportive of it being fully funded and fully functioning. We are in support of increasing the number of employees in the Print Shop.
13. We are happy to have our department secretary back to a 12 month position and ask that she not be required to relocate during summer and winter. We suggest scheduling classes in the Tech building during summer so that we can keep the air on and have her available to support both faculty and students. It is inconvenient and a waste of time and resources to continually pack up and move two to three times per year.
Our goals are to increase students' success rates, particularly in developmental math, and provide students the opportunity to complete their math requirements in two years or less. We attempt to meet those goals by providing increased support to our developmental math students, offering accelerated and online options, as well as making maximum use of our facilities and personel. We are also applying multiple measures to increase the likelihood that students are not placed in classes that are simply a repeat of their high school classes, provided that they were successful in those classes.
Strategy 1 - Improving Success Rates in Developmental Math
In fall 2015, we reinstated the Math Project for Math 217 run through EOPS, as this has a history of increasing student success and in fall 2016 began to pilot the use of laptops and the adaptive program ALEKS. This resulted in a small increase in the success rate. In spring, 2017, we more fully incorporated the laptops and have student assistants in each class where they are used as well as a retention specialist. We hope to see another increase in success rates following these measures. Through a fuller implementation of ALEKS in spring 2017, a number of students successfully completed the course material for both Math 217 and Math 108 in a single semester enabling them to enroll in Math 124. With increased support and training of in-class tutors, an embedded retention specialist, and goal-oriented guidelines, we expect this number to increase. Our Math 216 instructor devised a diagnostic tool for those students placing into the class; on the basis of those scores, many were able to take a higher level course.
We are offering Math 116 for the first time this spring 2018, which combines material from Math 108 and Math 124 into a one semester course. We anticipate this will save many students a full semester in their math sequence.
The return of Math 216 is based on feedback from current Math 217 instructors as well as data from our Math 217 SLO Assessment, which has been showing a decrease in overall scores. Student retention in these classes has also been decreasing, possibly due to the number of students who are finding the class is beyond their abilities. We hope that the return of Math 216 creates a bridge to success for underprepared Math 217 students. Other community colleges have seen increased success rate with the addition of technology-assisted assessment and student assistant availability. Bringing student assistants and technology into math classrooms has shown to improve student success at other community colleges.
Strategy 2 - Transfer Acceleration
Mark Mavis piloted our first accelerated classes in fall 2012. Registered students take Math 124 and Math 18, back-to-back, in the same semester, earning eight units, completing one developmental and one transfer-level math class. We added a second section of 124/18 at the Chico Center for 2013/2014 and a third section (held on the main campus) for 2014/2015. The pass rates for the accelerated model continue to be at or above the pass rates for our traditional Math 124 and Math 18 classes, confirming that the Math 124/18 class is valuable to students. A recent study by one of our institutional researchers comparing the success rates of Math 108 students who received an A or B and chose the accelerated model versus those who chose the traditional, semester-long model found the success rates of these two groups are not statistically different, suggesting that it is providing a valid path for students. We will expand this to one more section in the early afternoon on the main campus in fall 2016. For fall 2017 and spring 2018 we will have a total of 4 of these classes on the main campus and 1 at the Chico Center. If we see that these additional classes lead to a lower fill rate, we will likely cut back by one offering each semester. Moving forward, the department will need support to respond to AB 705 and the increased demand for transfer level classes due to the implementation of Multiple Measures.
Because the success rate for this model is at or above the success rate for these classes taught in the traditional model, we will continue to offer several sections per semester. Students in these classes have a higher retention rate than the traditional model and are often able to transfer a semester sooner than they would without this offering. These Math 124 classes participated in SLO Assessment in spring 2015 which confirmed that their success on SLOs was indeed greater than or equal to our traditional Math 124 classes. The Math 18 portion will be assessed along with all other sections of Math 18 as scheduled in our SLO matrix.
Strategy 3 - Online Courses
Starting fall 2016, we began offering Math 108, Math 124, and Math 18 online. We are excited to be able to offer students a way to complete their Associate's Degree online and at least one transfer level math class. However, we only support this model if all tests are given in a proctored environment so that the identity of the person receiving credit for the class can be verified. The success rates for these classes are well below the face-to-face classes. Therefore, we are not interested in expanding the number of online courses at this time. Our online Math 108 instructor is interested in piloting the use of an online test proctoring tool next fall 2018. The department has agreed to this and will examine the outcomes to determine if this is a viable tool.
Some students find it impossible to come to class due to health, family obligations, and distance from campus. Although the success rate for this type of math class is much lower than a face-to-face class, online classes meet the needs of a small group of dedicated students.
Strategy 4 - Maximizing the Schedule
The math department needs to increase the number of Associate Faculty Members, however we are limited by the number of people who meet minimum qualifications in our area. We hope that Chico State will reopen their Master's in Math Education this year, which could lead to the addition of new Associate Faculty and Interns through our connection to Chico State. This would allow us to offer an adequate number of sections to maximize FTES for the college and ensure students can complete their math requirements in 2 years or less. We continually need to be flexible with the number of courses we offer to respond to the changing needs of our student population. We are seeing an increasing number of students ready for transfer math. As a result, we will be offering more Transfer/GE classes in the coming years.
The math department continues to see high demand for classes at all levels, especially transfer math classes. Almost all students who attend Butte College for any reason need to take at least one math class. Several years ago there were 15 full-time instructors and nearly 40 associate faculty members in the department. We are now running the department with 17 full-time members and less than 20 associate faculty. In order to continue to meet the needs of the students of Butte College, we must increase part-time staff. We are excited to hire three full-time members to start fall 2018, bringing our department up to 20, its largest full-time membership ever. Of course these new faculty members will need new computers and offices.
All classes in the math department have a pedagogical cap of 35 students. However, two of our classrooms have a room cap of 32, but need to be supplemented with folding desks, and two others have to be supplemented with folding desks to provide room for 35 students. It seems reasonable that classes with a pedagogical cap less than 35 (unless they have specific lab needs) should be scheduled in these rooms and our classes should be scheduled in rooms large enough to accommodate 35 students. It is unlikely that any department will willingly give up their large rooms to come into the depressing rooms in the Technology building, so the only way this will happen is if an administrator makes the decision. Two things prevent access to math classes for students, room availability in the peak times and lack of available faculty. As our department grows with additional full-time faculty, but loses associate faculty, there will be more people available to teach during the day. If we had access to larger classrooms as well as additional classrooms, we would be able to serve many more students. This is supported by our most recent program review, where students volunteered their feelings about this building, specifically that conditions make them feel unwelcome and undervalued.
This spring 2018, we were granted the use of another smart classroom, LB 106B, which will seat 35 students. We also have permission to use two smart classrooms at the Skyway Center in the evenings after 5:30, which will expand to three classrooms at that location next fall 2018. These rooms were all updated with triple the amount of existing whiteboard space to ensure they are well suited for teaching math. These additional classrooms and the strategic rearrangement of some of our classes will enable us to offer enough courses to support additional faculty and meet student demand.
Both LB 105 and LB 106B would be better suited to math classes if they contained individual student desks rather than tables and chairs, as we have in all of our rooms in the Technology building. This would be welcome in the Skyway Center rooms as well, but since we share those rooms with other disciplines, we will be happy to continue using the existing furniture.
Our budget is the only source of guaranteed revenue for the math department. We frequently benefit from funding through the Basic Skills Initiative and various grants, but this is generally temporary, dedicated, or one-time funding.
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | Mathematics | Personnel | $0.00 | $436,000.00 | ||
| 4 Full time faculty members | In order to continue offering the number and variety of courses currently available to students and try to increase our course offerings consistent with a college-wide goal of a 10% increase in FTES, the math department needs to increase the number of full time instructors. |
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| 2 | Mathematics | Equipment | $3,900.00 | $0.00 | ||
| 3 computers for new full time instructors | Our new faculty members will need a computer and we will only have one available. This will help us support an increase in our course offerings consistent with a college-wide goal of a 10% increase in FTES. |
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| 3 | Mathematics | Facilities | $18,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| 3 offices for new full time instructors | New faculty will need offices. We will have only one available in our building. This will help us support an increase in our course offerings consistent with a college-wide goal of a 10% increase in FTES. |
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| 4 | Mathematics | Personnel | $0.00 | $16,065.00 | ||
| Student office assistants | The department office serves multiple departments and in order for our Administrative Assistant to be able to do her work, we need students in the office to answer phones and greet students seeking help. This will help us support an increase in our course offerings consistent with a college-wide goal of a 10% increase in FTES. The cost reflects 45 hours per week, 17 weeks per semester and $10.50 per hour. This cost should be shared among the departments served by the office in TE 132. |
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| 5 | Mathematics | Personnel | 11.000.615.1.170100 | 52468 | $0.00 | $14,360.00 |
| Student assistant money for Computer Lab monitors/tutors. | Students are necessary to monitor and tutor math students in the Computer Lab. The amount requested reflects 40 student-hours per week, 16.5 weeks per semester, and $10.50 per hour, as well as $500 for necessary training. |
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| 6 | Mathematics | Personnel | $0.00 | $31,500.00 | ||
| Student Graders for full time faculty | Students need to receive feedback on their homework on a daily basis in order to succeed. The use of student graders makes this feedback possible, and gives graders, many of whom plan to become teachers, a chance to earn valuable experience. The cost is based on 20 full time instructors using a grader for 5 hours per week, 15 weeks per semester at $10.50 per hour. In the past we were able to offer each instructor 10 hours each week, so this reflects a decrease in grader use, partly due to some instructors choosing to assign online homework which is automatically graded, providing some of the necessary feedback to students, although this feedback is not as thorough as our student graders provide. This will help us support an increase in our course offerings consistent with a college-wide goal of a 10% increase in FTES. |
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| 7 | Mathematics | Personnel | 11.000.615.1.170100 | 51391 | $0.00 | $34,000.00 |
| Associate Faculty Office Hours | Students do not have equal access to their instructors when their instructors are Associate Faculty unless those faculty choose to donate their time. The ongoing cost was calculated by using $25 per hour, 2 hours per week, 17 weeks per semester for 20 instructors. |
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| 8 | Mathematics | Personnel | $0.00 | $18,900.00 | ||
| Student Graders for associate faculty | Students need to receive feedback on their homework on a daily basis in order to succeed. This should not be less frequent just because a student has an associate faculty member as their instructor. The use of student graders makes this feedback possible, and gives graders, many of whom plan to become teachers, a chance to earn valuable experience. The cost is based on 20 associate faculty using a grader for 3 hours per week, 15 weeks per semester at $10.50 per hour. |
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| 9 | Mathematics | Equipment | $103,422.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Graphing calculators and cases for twenty-two classes (Math 18) | Students in Math 18 are required to have a TI-83 or TI-84 graphing calculator. Unlike students in STEM majors who purchase these calculators and use them in up to 6 classes, these students often need them for only one class. We have an increasing number of students who cannot afford the $120 cost for these calculators, and will be at a disadvantage in the class. This disproportionately effects students on the Dashboard. The cost reflects 22 class sets of 40 calculators ($91476), along with 22 cases ($4730) to transport them safely to class and store them when not in use. (Plus tax of 7215.45) These calculators will allow us to loan a calculator for the semester to every student in Math 18. This will truly make these classes free to students for those faculty who choose to use free textbooks and will greatly decrease the cost for all others. |
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| 10 | Mathematics | Facilities | 11.000.615.1.170100 | 00000 | $8,000.00 | $0.00 |
| Independent thermostat for TE-110 and TE-111 | Two rooms attached to one thermostat does not work when there are no students in the room with the thermostat. No HVAC reaches the other room. |
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| 11 | Mathematics | Facilities | 11.000.615.1.170100 | 00000 | $13,100.00 | $0.00 |
| New signs for Technology building to read Mathematics | We no longer teach engineering or drafting in this building. It is dedicated to teaching mathematics and we'd like it to say so. |
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