Date of Graduation

Spring 2011

Degree

Master of Natural and Applied Science in Mathematics

Department

Mathematics

Committee Chair

Linda Plymate

Abstract

Peer tutoring is a service provided at a community college that is voluntary for students to use. In this study, data were collected and analyzed to determine whether peer tutoring had an effect on mathematics student success in these areas: retention rates, grades in mathematics courses (with D or F grades, as well as withdrawals considered non-success), and student overall grade point averages. The mathematics students were separated based on course taken (Pre-College Algebra and College Algebra) as well as by the number of hours that they had received peer tutoring. A stratified random sample of tutored students was obtained. The tutored students were then compared to all students. Then, the differing levels of tutoring were compared to one another. Mixed results were obtained. The sample of tutored students had a statistically significantly higher retention rate than all students. When comparing retention rates for the different levels of tutoring in both classes, no statistically significant difference was found. No statistically significant differences were obtained when comparing the D, F, or withdrawal rate of students. There was a statistically significant difference between the overall mean GPA of the sample of tutored students and that of all students. The tutored Pre-College Algebra students did not have a statistically significant difference in overall GPA, but the tutored College Algebra students did.

Keywords

community college, grade point average, mathematics, peer tutoring, retention rates

Subject Categories

Mathematics

Copyright

© Jacob L. Lewellen

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