Date
April 2008
Chair
Margaret Ackerman
Primary Subject Area
Education, Community College; Education, Higher; Education, Mathematics
Keywords
community college, higher education, rural, outcome, instruction, passing rate
Recommended Citation
Preuss, Michael David, "Personal Traits and Experiential Characteristics of Developmental Mathematics Faculty: Impact on Student Success" (2008). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 61.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/61
Abstract
This ex post facto study of the relationship of selected personal traits and experiential characteristics of developmental mathematics faculty with student success rates was conducted a rural, North Carolina community college. The data gathered was from all classroom based sections of three levels of developmental mathematics taught between fall of 2003 and spring of 2007 and from faculty personnel records. Chi-square and p-value calculations were completed for 15 hypotheses regarding the impact of the traits and characteristics of the 24 developmental mathematics faculty on student success rates. Many of the comparisons made in the study are the first of their kind in developmental mathematics. Results indicate associations of both the personal traits and experiential characteristics of faculty with student success in developmental mathematics. These associations have implications for community colleges in respect to departmental or instructional planning, faculty professional development, faculty recruitment, institutional planning and educational research as well as implications for undergraduate and graduate instruction in mathematics and Education, for the governance of community college and university systems and for the actions of individual faculty and students within these institutions. Suggestions for further research are also included.
