Math Boot Camps (College and High School)/Strategic Direction Two
Original goal: The college will conduct quarterly math boot camps with a goal to serve 125 students
annually. At least 50% of camp completers will move up a level on their COMPASS retest. This has been
merged with the intervention for improved alignment with secondary education. This intervention had a
goal for increased collaboration with high school teachers to develop curriculum revisions toward
improving college-readiness.
Action: During AY 2012, math boot camps served 153 (103 campus and 50 high school). This included
14% of targeted campus students based on COMPASS scores and 42% of invited high school students
based on their ACT PLAN scores. The chart below details camp attendance over three years.
During AY 2012, 44% of students tested increased at least one level, of which 32% were college ready.
While campus-based performance improved, high school-based declined.
NC State tracks the success of eligible campus boot camp attendees vs. eligible non-attendees per the
chart below. The academic outcomes of attendees in terms of “total success” continue to outpace nonattendees in AY 2012, as nearly 40% of attendees either tested out of the major math requirement or
immediately passed a math course. Nearly 30 students were able to accelerate their developmental
education and save money as a result of the camp, especially for those advancing multiple levels
(minimum $16,000 savings assuming each just advanced one level).
Ten of the high school students who took camp in spring matriculated to NC State, of whom five
attempted math (all had increased levels) and three succeeded. Of the 46 high school students from the
2012 camp, 18 have enrolled this fall at NC State.
Year 1 Math AtD Cohort Math Sequence Completion
Attend BC
58%
No Attend BC
61%
50%
50%
43%
34%
2009
2010
To test the theory that camps accelerate
sequence completion, year one math
sequence completion was compared for
eligible attendees and non-attendees. Note
the cohort attendee group sizes were 16, 28,
and 20. The latter cohort attendees had much
higher sequence completion rates than nonattendees.
2011
Post-DEI plans: The college has embedded boot camps within the new policy for assessment and
placement. It is offering quarterly boot camps for math and English at $25 each. This includes the new
$25 COMPASS retest fee, giving an incentive for students to attend the camps. Moreover, the math and
English departments now offer Pre-COMPASS prep workshops for $10 each to help maximize
performance on the first test. For fall 2012, 23 students attended the math boot camp. The English
Department has also adopted pre-quarter boot camps. Based on the high school project, the college has
leveraged a $100,000 federal Race to the Top grant in winter 2012 for regional colleges (3) and K-12
schools (16) to develop alignment strategies in math and English. These strategies will dovetail with
implementation of the Common Core curriculum in Ohio, and movement to a new assessment tool
replacing the Ohio Graduation Test (pegged at 10th grade proficiency).