Voluntary math remediation for STEM and economics disciplines – who is attending at all? Evidence from Germany

ABSTRACT

Most studies on remedial courses are based on their mandatory attendance. However, changes may have occurred in the attendance policy of developmental math courses since the state of Florida decided to overcome obligatory math remediation for unprepared students. Consequently, researchers have recently started focusing on voluntary math remedial courses. In general, literature that goes back to the 1980s suggests that developmental coursework should be mandatory for unprepared first-year students. Since most universities in the US have always followed these recommendations, hardly any empirical evidence exists for the participation of students in voluntary remediation. Conversely, the remedial education system in Europe and particularly Germany is primarily voluntary. Therefore, this study exploratively examines the participation of students in two optional developmental math courses: a so-called preparatory course and a so-called bridging course. The findings suggest that summer-school-like preparatory courses miss their target group of at-risk students, whereas semester-running bridging courses reach it.

KEYWORDS:

• Preparatory course
• bridging course
• voluntary developmental course
• participation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Federal Ministry of Education and Research: [Grant Number 01PB14010A,01PB14010B,01PB14010C].

Notes on contributors

S. Büchele

Dr Stefan Büchele is a lecturer and research assistant at the economics department and at the International Centre of Higher Education Research (INCHER) at the University of Kassel. His research interest includes students' performance, developmental courses, and program evaluation, primarily in higher education.

S. Berndt

Sarah Berndt (M.A.) is a research assistant at the Chair for Higher Education Research and Academic Development at the University of Magdeburg. She is responsible for the “DiP-iT” and “NetKoop” projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. She researches in the field of higher education, evaluation of digital teaching/learning settings. Her research focuses on higher education, evaluation of digital teaching/learning settings, and methods of empirical social research.

A. Felix

Dr Annika Felix is a research assistant at the Chair for Higher Education Research and Academic Development at the University of Magdeburg. She is responsible for the Research Training Group “Science Management and Science Communication”. Her research interests are higher education, lifelong learning, sociology of ageing, and methods of empirical social research.