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