From Research to Practice: Using Assessment and Early Intervention to Improve Student Success in Introductory Statistics

ABSTRACT

In this study we used an assessment tool evaluated in a previous study to identify students who were at-risk of not being successful in our introductory statistics course. We then required these students to attend peer tutoring, early in the semester, as an intervention. While we saw a significant increase in student success for all students in this study compared with the previous study, the at-risk students who completed the required tutoring had a significantly higher increase in success than their peers.

KEYWORDS:

• Assessment
• Basic mathematical skills
• Intervention
• Introductory statistics
• Peer tutoring

Acknowledgments

We would also like to thank the editors and anonymous referees whose comments and suggestions greatly improved this article. We would also like to thank our colleagues for agreeing to administer and count the basic skills test in their introductory statistics classes, the LU CAS administrators and tutors for working with our department to implement the required tutoring, the Longwood Assessment Minigrant Program (LAMP) for partially supporting this research, our student Sarah Kessler for her work on student attitudes about the required tutoring, and most importantly, our MATH 171 students for being patient with us as we work to find ways to improve their outcomes.