Institutional Level - Implementing

Who should lead?

The work at this stage tends to break into strands led by different people. Mathematics faculty will take the lead on developing and offering courses, advising coordinators will lead enrollment efforts, etc. The leadership team continues to meet to monitor progress, share information, and identify potential problems.

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What does it take?

The time commitment for individuals will vary widely by role with mathematics faculty and advisors usually bearing the largest burden. Leaders should make sure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and establish frequent checkpoints for progress. Administrators and other leaders should think creatively about how to find ways to support those most impacted by the work. The frequency of leadership team meetings may decrease.

Avoid pitfalls

The most common problem for implementation is low enrollments in new pathways courses. Low enrollment is not an issue if the institution goes to full scale all at once. When there are two competing systems (i.e., the new pathways versus the traditional course sequence), students and advisors find it more difficult to decide which option is better and tend to default to the familiar approach. One way to address this problem is to set very clear and unambiguous criteria for which students should go into which pathway. It is also wise to monitor enrollment carefully to allow time to address problems early.

4 Suggested Steps and Resources:

  • Step 1

    Mathematics faculty design, schedule, and staff courses.

  • Step 2

    Advisors implement enrollment processes, and students are successfully enrolled in the mathematics pathway aligned to their program of study.

  • Step 3

    The leadership team monitors implementation progress through scheduled check-ins with different stakeholders and departments.

  • Step 4

    The leadership team creates and implements an evaluation plan to assess student learning and outcomes and progress towards full-scale implementation.

Faculty across the mathematics department are kept apprised of the work and given opportunities for engagement. See Classroom Level for more resources for designing courses.

For more information, please visit our resources page.

See "A New Definition of Student Success" to identify success metrics in evaluating math pathways.

For more information, please visit our resources page.