UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF HOW DEVELOPMENTAL MATHEMATICS COURSES PREPARE STUDENTS FOR DEGREE-REQUIRED MATHEMATICS COURSES

Students at most open-enrollment colleges must take a placement exam to determine what courses they will need to enroll in as their first math course. Students who score below a certain threshold are placed in a developmental math course. Students must complete the developmental math sequence before enrolling in degree-required math courses. Students’ perceptions of being enrolled in developmental math courses were investigated for this study. The purpose of this quantitative study was to highlight students’ perspectives on being required to take developmental math and whether such courses adequately prepared them for the mathematics class required for the students’ majors. A quantitative, non-experimental research design was used to address the study’s topic and was selected for study purposes for its benefit of objectivity and reliability (Edmonds & Kennedy, 2017). A survey research approach represented the study’s methodology (Fraenkel et al., 2019). The study’s sample of participants was accessed through non-probability techniques. Specifically, convenient and purpose sampling techniques were used to identify and access the study’s participant sample. The study's target population was students who were enrolled in developmental math courses before taking college-level math courses. The study’s participants included college students who were enrolled in developmental math courses and had taken degree-required math courses. Although somewhat surprising, the finding illustrates the importance of developmental mathematics coursework in fostering the prospect of a success mindset in mathematics.