DSL Statistical Overview
Montgomery County Community College
Developmental Studies Laboratory Data Sheet
August 9, 1999
Students' Performance within DSL Courses
Students enrolled in DSL courses have similar performance to students in enrolled in traditional developmental courses. Graphs 1 and 2 provide the breakdown of grades eared by students in both courses between fall 1995 and spring 1999, for students completing the courses. The distribution for English DSL students is slightly flatter than that for traditional students, with fewer students earning the letter grade of "C", and slightly higher proportion of students earning grades at the end of the scale. For mathematics students, both traditional and DSL course have a slightly skewed distribution with students performing better than in English. However, both types of mathematics courses have a higher failure rate than is found in English courses.
The DSL grade distribution suggests that the computer-based format for development education provides a course that appropriately challenges enrolled students. The similarity of the DSL and traditional course distributions also indicates that DSL courses are meeting the standards of the College.
Student's Performance in College Level Courses After Completing DSL Courses
Since the primary function of developmental studies programs is to raise students with deficient basic skills to the level of passing college-level courses, a primary issue is to understand the later success of DSL students. Graph 3 highlights the college-level pass rates for students in DSL and traditional developmental courses. For mathematics courses, DSL students had a pass rate of 73.8%, while traditional students had a rate of 71.8% for college-level courses. There was no significant relationship between DSL participation and passing college-level math. For English, DSL and non-DSL students had nearly identical pass rates in English 101 at 80%.
The high college-level pass rate shows that the DSL is an effective course. Additionally, the similarity of DSL and traditional students' pass rates in mathematics and English shows that provides necessary background to succeed in college.
Students' Perceptions of DSL courses
As part of the recent evaluation, students enrolled in the DSL during fall 1998 were surveyed about their motivations for enrolling in the courses and their perceptions of the Lab. The original motivation for enrolling in a DSL section was overwhelmingly (65.2%) a need for flexibility with scheduling. The most common other reason (42.8%) for enrolling revolved around a self-paced and flexible curriculum. Twenty-six respondents submitted comments about the DSL. The majority (84.6%) of comments indicated that the DSL was a very positive learning experience. Two (7.7%) had neutral perceptions of the DSL, and two offered negative comments.
The student survey showed that students had generally positive perceptions of the DSL. Also it showed that students are attracted to it because it satisfies needs that are not possible in traditional course based format.
Summary
The DSL provides a valuable format to students who may otherwise fall through the cracks of traditional developmental courses. It offers challenging courses that appropriately prepare its completers with skills necessary to take college-level courses. Students express positive perceptions of the DSL, and express its filling needs not met in by traditional courses. All of the data indicate that the DSL is a strong complement to the traditional curriculum.
