The decision to re-design your math curriculum to include the co-requisite model is an important one that can make a lasting impact on both students and faculty. But before you make this decision, it’s important to understand why you are making it.
- Are you trying something new for student success?
- Do you recognize the barrier that math creates for some students?
- Are you looking for a way to fix that?
Finding out why the change is needed is the first positive step toward achieving the success you’ve outlined in the planning stage. If implemented in a way that works for your students, the co-requisite model can be very beneficial, helping students make progress toward career goals and faculty improve their pass and retention rates.
It also has the potential to increase overall graduation rates. As a faculty member once told me, “You know what they call someone who passes a college-level mathematics course? A graduate.”
Keep your goal in focus. The co-requisite model is intended to help students who haven’t had solid support systems in the past go on to achieve success. You want to meet students where they are and help them build academic skills to get to where you need them to be.
We can connect you with someone who’s already been through the process of implementing a co-requisite model for math curriculum redesign. If you’d like to speak with someone about their experience, ask your Knewton representative, or email us at support@knewton.com.
Faculty Tip
To understand why you’re pursuing a co-requisite model, you have to first take an honest look at the challenges your institution is being asked to address.
When discussing the challenges facing her institution, Rebecca Wulf of Ivy Tech Community College gets right to the point: “We faced pressure to reduce remediation, including legislation to require fewer remedial courses below college level.”
In Rebecca’s case, why the change needed to be made was clear from the very beginning. Aligning on the challenges your initiative is trying to address not only helps everyone align on the need for a co-requisite model, it can inform how that model is designed and implemented.