Cost-Effectiveness of a Statistics-Based Approach to Developmental Mathematics Education

Due to the low success of traditional, postsecondary remediation mathematics, The Maryland Mathematics Reform Initiative First in the World Grant (MMRI–FITW) sought to develop and implement a statistics pathway in 2- and 4-year institutions as an alternative to traditional algebra-based math, to accelerate developmental mathematics students’ progress into credit-bearing postsecondary mathematics courses. In this study, we use cost to students and cost to institutions to estimate the cost per student and assess the cost-effectiveness of MMRI–FITW statistics-based vs. traditional algebra-based approach to developmental mathematics education for increasing student enrollment in college credit-bearing mathematics. The results indicate participating in the MMRI–FITW statistics-based vs. traditional algebra-based approach reduces education costs by approximately 7 percent and is 36 percent more cost-effective for increasing student enrollment in college-credit mathematics. The article concludes with the implications of the cost-effectiveness results for scaling the MMRI–FITW statistics-based approach