Productive Persistence

Overview of Productive Persistence “Starting Strong Package” v.2.0

What is Productive Persistence?

We’re defining “productive persistence” as tenacity + good strategies. Many students work hard in developmental math classes—studying long hours, nights and weekends—yet many of them do so using ineffective strategies. Others simply withdraw effort soon after the course begins. To help more students successfully complete their academic goals, we want them to both persist in their studying and attendance (tenacity) and to do so efficiently and effectively (good strategies).

How Will We Promote Productive Persistence?

We have interviewed faculty, students and researchers to uncover several of the key, high-leverage drivers of students’ productive persistence in developmental math classes. One theme that arose from this scan of the field was that many of the students who do not complete a course either withdraw effort or get too far behind during the first three or four weeks of the course. For that reason we have focused on developing a “Starting Strong Package” for successfully launching the course in the first three or four weeks. The comprehensive set of potential solutions and organizing practical framework is represented in the driver diagram on page 20.

Which Potential Solutions Are Included in the Starting Strong Package?

Developing and testing potential solutions to positively impact students' mindsets, engagement and academic strategies is an ongoing process. Working with researchers and faculty we continue to develop, test, evaluate and improve promising practices and interventions.

The potential solutions included in this version of the Starting Strong Package are the most completely developed and we have the highest confidence they will positively impact students' productive persistence. Nevertheless, each element could benefit from additional testing and improvement in the coming years. In the pages that follow, we provide a brief overview of what the activities are, which drivers they address, and what rationale we have for including them in the starter package. We encourage you to implement all activities in the Starting Strong Package.

If you are interested in testing or improving interventions for possible inclusion in a future version please look at "Change Ideas Out for Testing" on page 18 for further information. Please join us in improving student outcomes through our collective learning.

Is Productive Persistence Limited Only to the First 3-4 Weeks?

Though we see the first 3 - 4 weeks as an essential window to promoting student success, the Productive Persistence research and development agenda includes developing interventions and activities that reoccur or are implemented later in the term. Examples of these are mindset boosters and classroom routines to support productive classroom communities. To give you a preview of current and future innovation projects, please see the Productive Persistence practical framework on page 20 at the end of the document and the "Change Ideas Out for Testing" section starting on page 18.

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What Productive Persistence Activities Are Currently In the Starting Strong Package?

The timing of delivery for each of the activities, the rationale for each and the drivers they are meant to address are described below. The drivers are color-coded to match the Productive Persistence practical framework on page 20.

Suggested Course Schedule

Day 1Getting to know you activity (10 - 15 min.) Forming Groups (2 min.) Language Script (2 min.)Contract Activity (15 - 20 min.) Syllabus Activity I (15 - 20 min.)

Day 2Working in Groups - roles and responsibilities (5 min.) Lesson 1.1

Day 3Intro to MyQuantway® Why study mathematics or quantitative reasoning? (5 min.) Script for Engaging in Productive Struggle (5 min.)Lesson 1.1 - Finish

Day 4Growth mindset activity (30 min.) Lesson 1.2

Day 5Lesson 1.3

Day 6 Lesson 1.4

Day 7Syllabus Activity II - review with grade check (20 min.) Lesson 1.5

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Overview and Rationale

Getting to know you activity

- What is it: Students and faculty complete activities or games on the first day of the course to get to know one another.

- Rationale: This is meant to help students form social ties to peers.- Driver(s) addressed: "Students feel socially tied to peers, faculty and the course.";"Students feel they are

a necessary and important part of the classroom community."

Forming groups; Group work roles and responsibilities

- What is it: Faculty state that a part of the course is to work together and support one another collaboratively. Faculty then choose one of several group structures and place students into groups.

- Rationale: By using semi-structured groups, students’ roles are such that they depend on one another to build conceptual understanding. This is meant to set norms around group work and collaboration. Some of the group structures create “roles” to foster equitable participation and engagement. In addition, by having students work in groups, it is hoped it would increase ties to peers and faculty.

- Driver(s) addressed: “Students feel they are a necessary and important part of the classroom community";"Students have accurate knowledge about succeeding in the course."

Language script

- What is it: A script for faculty to read during the first week of school to let students know that discussion is an expectation of the course. It will also set a norm of respect for students’ different levels of language use.

- Rationale: By setting a norm of both discussion and respect, students will feel more comfortable sharing ideas, resulting in stronger social ties, deeper conceptual understanding, more equitable participation and greater engagement.

- Driver(s) addressed: “Students feel comfortable asking questions.";"Students don't question whether they belong."; "Students don't feel stigmatized due to membership in a negatively stereotyped group.";AQT: "All students have entry into the community of practice."

Contract activity

- What is it: Faculty customize our contract template before the first day of class. Then, students are given the contract and participate in a group activity to understand the contract and think of ways to support one another in meeting it. Finally, all students will sign the contract and witness each others’ signatures.

- Rationale: This activity is meant to increase students’ commitment to the course, communicate the high standards of the course, while making their commitment inherently social. That is, students should see they are not isolated, in the course on their own. Instead, they are in it together, supporting each other to be successful.

- Driver(s) addressed: "Students feel socially tied to peers, faculty and the course.";“Students have accurate knowledge about succeeding in the course and navigating the institution.”

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- What is it: An activity to get to know the syllabus, especially the expectations in the course around homework, participation, etc. Students should learn how their grades are calculated.

- Rationale: Students need to explicitly understand the expectations of the course.- Driver(s) addressed: “Students have accurate knowledge about succeeding in the course and navigating

the institution.”

Script for engaging in productive struggle

- What is it: A brief script to say to students before asking them to engage in a productive struggle activity. Read the script in advance to prepare for class, but do not read it directly from the document in class—it will not seem as authentic if you do.

- Rationale: When students do productive struggle activities, they may be discouraged, especially if they believe that struggling to find the right answer is a sign that they "can’t cut it" in math class, or if it is a reminder of their past difficulties passing math classes. This script is designed to remind them to interpret struggle as a sign that they are learning and that that they are getting better—that the path to deeper understanding includes struggle.

- Driver(s) addressed: "Students see that math isn't just a set of algorithms to be memorized but a set of concepts that can be understood and applied.";"Students believe they can grow their math ability with effort, help and good strategies."

Why study mathematics/statistics?

- What is it: An overview of the importance and relevance of the course content.- Rationale: Students’ motivation to learn—and deeply understand—the course material may be increased

by explaining to them, explicitly, the importance of learning it.- Driver(s) addressed: "Students believe how completion of this course is relevant to goals for

degree/certificate completion";"Students believe that knowledge from the course is relevant to a personal or socially-valued goal.";"Students feel as though they are completing academic tasks for personal reasons."

Growth mindset writing activity

- What is it: A 30-40 minute reading and writing activity for students to complete during the first or second week of school. There is a script and instruction sheet that accompanies the activity.

- Rationale: Some students may think that having “math intelligence” is all that matters to have success in a math class, and when they do poorly, they may conclude that they lack the requisite ability. To change this mindset, we are providing students with an activity. They will read accurate and current neuroscientific evidence that the brain changes with learning and that even adults can learn new things. Important: DO NOT say that the activity is designed to change their mindsets or that it is supposed to motivate them or help them get better grades.

- Driver(s) addressed: “Students believe they can actively grow their math ability with effort, help and good strategies.”

Self-Regulated Learning activities - (Applicable to only Quantway® at this time)

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- What is it: Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) activities are integrated into the out-of-class activities. Currently, SRL activities are integrated into the Quantway out of class experience.

- Rationale: Doing one’s homework is a crucial activity for understanding mathematics content and successfully completing a mathematics course. How much time students spend on their homework is only one factor in successful homework completion. The quality of time spent on task, including managing distractions, self-efficacy, perceived responsibility for learning, setting goals, self-reflection, managing time, and setting a place for homework completion are more effective than only measuring the time spent on homework (Ramdass & Zimmerman, 2011). The SRL activities are designed to improve the quality and effectiveness of the students’ out of class learning time.

- Driver(s) addressed: "Students use learning strategies that are appropriate for the academic challenge they are facing"; "Students have the know-how and self-discipline to set and prioritize long and short-term goals over short-term desires and distractions."

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Starting Strong Activities Getting to Know You (10 - 15 min)

People bingo – Create a document with a grid 4 x 4 or larger. Fill each square with a fact that might apply to a portion of students in the class (examples: married, have children, travel more than 10 miles to campus, speak a language other than English, lived outside of the U.S., play a musical instrument etc.). Have students mill around the room, introducing themselves, looking for students with those qualities. When the student finds someone for whom a statement is true they put that student’s name in the square. The game ends when a student’s bingo card is completely filled with names.

Name game – Put the students in a circle. Each person states their name followed by something noteworthy about them that starts with the same letter (or sound) as their first name. (examples: "I’m Rachel and I race cars"; "I’m Nicole and I’m near-sighted"). That person then repeats the names and activities of all the people who have gone before them.

Group Commonality – Divide the class into groups of students with 4 - 6 students in each group (or 3 - 4 students if you will use these groups for your first stable class groupings) .The task of each group will be to come up with something they all have in common, something that is “not obvious”. Give the groups 10 – 15 minutes to identify their commonality and then have them report out.

Bucket List – Students come up with a brief bucket list for the upcoming year and share out. Have students write down three things they want to do or accomplish before the end of the school or calendar year. Divide students into pairs to discuss their lists. After a set amount of time, have students rotate.

Two truths and a lie – In small groups, students share three stories/statements about themselves, one of which is a lie. Group members try to guess the lie. Students form groups of 4-5 and spend a few minutes independently to come up with three facts/stories about themselves, two of which are true, and the other a lie (the more unique, the better!). Students write them down on a piece of paper and share them with the group once everybody has completed their list. The group then tries to guess which is the lie for each member of their group. When they have done their guessing ask groups to identify the most interesting truth or funniest lie. Do a whip-around the classroom.

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Forming Groups (2 min.)

You will need to put your students in groups for the Day 1 activities and for completing the Quantway lessons. Here are some ideas for organizing students in groups.

Random – You can assign groups randomly, by having students count off or having students pick playing cards from a deck as they walk in the room, or many other methods. Advantages – It’s quick, groups will probably function well

Disadvantages – Groups may not be balanced (in terms of student strengths) and it may take a while for students to become comfortable with the group.

Self-assigned – You can allow students to self-select into groups, or grouping students based on how they are seated in the class. Advantages – It’s quick, students may initially be more comfortable. Disadvantages – Groups may not be balanced (in terms of student strengths); groups may

not function well overtime.

Structured Groups – You can have students fill out a questionnaire the first day of class and use that information to form the initial groupings. The article “Turning Student Groups into Effective Teams” has a sample survey. The article can be found at the URL: http://goo.gl/73vT5 Advantages – Groups can be balanced based on students’ self-reported strengths and will

probably function well over time. Disadvantages – More time intensive. You’ll still need to use one of the methods above for

the Day 1 activities.

Other considerations:

Student groups may function better if they are kept together over a period of time. As you form the initial grouping on the first day of class (or second day if you chose the “Structured Group” sorting method above) you’ll want to inform the students they are in the groups they’ll be working with for the first part of the class. You might also want to record the groupings in some way.

As the term progresses you might want to change the student groupings. In building cohort responsibility and belonging, it is good for students to get to work with and know more of their classmates. When forming the second and subsequent student groupings you can use your knowledge of students’ work habits and performance to form balanced groups, or continue to place them randomly.

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Language Script (2 min.)

To set up the expectation that all students participate and help increase the comfort level for students with non-standard English back grounds, we want to explicitly state that expectation, acknowledge that different levels of English usage exist and state that we expect patience and respect when communicating with each other. Below is a script written by Guadalupe Valdes, a language professor at Stanford University, that you can use to set that expectation.

This class will be different in many ways from other math classes you may have been in. You are going to interact with each other quite a bit and talk to each other about mathematics. I will put you into groups, and I will expect that you will contribute to the discussion of the problems that your group is working on.

I know that some of you do not like to talk in class and that others of you like to talk a lot. So, we will be following a couple of easy rules. We give everyone a chance to talk. We respond to whatever anyone says with respect. We are concerned here about concepts that will help you learn mathematics, and I expect that students in this class will support each other in working together.

Contract Activity: (15-20 min.)

● The teacher passes out the Quantway Cohort Contract to students seated in groups ● Students first silently read through the contract asking themselves “Which of these commitments will I

have the most trouble with?”● Then students share in groups what parts of the contract they thought they would have difficulty

meeting. The group brainstorms ways to support each other to successfully meet all parts of the contract.

● Students share out to the full class some of the ways that their group has decided to support one another in meeting the contract expectations.

● Students then sign and witness each other’s contracts.

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Quantway Cohort Contract By signing below, I agree to fulfill the following requirements for participation in the Quantway, and acknowledge that I understand the requirements for continued enrollment. Specifically:● I commit to successfully completing the Quantway with the members of my cohort.● I commit to helping all of my cohort members understand mathematics and complete the

Quantway.● I will come to class everyday prepared to participate in all classroom activities.● I will contribute to creating a productive classroom atmosphere that supports everyone

learning.● I will keep an open mind and a positive attitude, and will be willing to try out new learning

strategies and study skills.

Signature: _____________________________ Date: ________________ Witness: _______________________________ Date: ________________

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Productive Persistence

Syllabus Activity I (15 - 20 min.)

Allow students to read the syllabus quietly on their own. Next, place the students in groups. Have them come up with three questions they have about the course and the course policies. Then have the students use the syllabus to answer as many of the questions as they can. While the students are looking for answers in the syllabus, the instructor mills around the room and points students to the proper section of the syllabus to read to find the answers. Conclude the activity by bringing the class back together and answering the questions students have that could not be answered by consulting the syllabus. In some cases you may have to tell students you will get back to their questions at a later date, but remember to record those questions and answer them later.

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Working in Groups - Roles and Responsibilities (5 min.)

To help students work together in groups more effectively you might give each group member a role. The groups could be instructed to rotate the roles so that each student gets a chance to develop the skills associated with each of the roles.

Suggested Roles:

Facilitator - The facilitator's responsibilities include:

Initiating group discussion on a lesson by asking for input or questions. Making sure that everyone in the group has a chance to talk and express their ideas, opinions and ask

questions. Makes sure that the group remains on task. In some models the facilitator evaluates the participation of their fellow group members at the end of

class.

Recorder - The recorder's responsibilities include:

Writing down the group's responses for questions asked Writing down all notes for the instructor. Reviews all members' responses and notes for completeness. Writes up the final assignment to be turned in.

Monitor - The monitor's responsibilities include:

Checking their group's understanding before moving on Making sure that every group member understands the solution(s) that the group is submitting. Reviews the group members' roles and responsibilities for the day Keeps track of time, informing the group when time is running out.

Liaison/Presenter- The liaison/presenter's responsibilities include:

Presenting the groups' responses Discussing group work with the instructor Discussing the groups' responses and/or posing questions to other groups

Most sources state that the effective size for long-term groupings is 3 - 4 members.

As the groups start to work on their first lesson or assignment together you will want to give them some guidance on how to approach their work as a group. They should all read the problem situation individually, and if the problem is sufficiently complex, then you might instruct the group to discuss the problem to make sure that all members of the group understand what is being asked of them. They should then all take some time to think about the approach they would take in solving the problem, and perhaps jot down an outline for that approach. Then the group can discuss their different approaches and follow through an individual approach or a combination of approaches to collectively solve the problem.

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Script for Engaging in Productive Struggle (5 min.)

(To be used the first 2 - 4 productive struggle opportunities)

Before students engage in an activity requiring Productive Struggle we want to help them to frame the activity so that they don’t become so frustrated that they give up. We also want to forestall the conclusion that more struggle means they can’t cut it -- that they lack the potential to succeed. Here is script that you can use to help set the scene for students to Productively Struggle with the Quantway materials.

One important part of the Quantway is to do problems that are going to stretch you beyond what you know. Although this may be uncomfortable sometimes, we do this on purpose so you can learn. It’s important to know that when you feel stretched, it’s not a sign that you can’t cut it. Usually it’s a sign that you’re learning.

In the past, when some people get a problem wrong, they might have thought that they just don’t have the ability to study math--that they’re not math people. But when you talk to professional mathematicians, the people who are best at math, it turns out that they work a long time on the same problem--and they only spend their time on problems that they struggle with the most. And even though you might think they make up answers on their own, almost always mathematicians have to ask people for help.

The goal of the Quantway is to help you learn things that you can actually use in life--not so you can memorize it for a test and then forget it. And so in the Quantway, sometimes we will work on problems that there either isn’t a correct answer or that for just about everybody the answer isn’t obvious right away. At those times, it’s important to realize that the way that you thought about math in the past--like getting right answer means you are smart and getting it wrong means that your aren’t--that type of thinking just isn’t true in the Quantway. Instead we will work on problems that take three things: effort, a good strategy, and help from others. If you get it right, it’s because of one of those three things, and if you get it wrong, then you know what to do: change your effort, change your strategy, or ask for more help.

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Why Study Mathematics?

(Script for helping students see the relevance of the course)

Students’ motivation to learn—and deeply understand—the course material may be increased by explaining to them, explicitly, the importance of learning math in general and quantitative reasoning in particular. Below is a script that you can use to help students see the relevance of Quantway curriculum.

In the Quantway, we think it matters that students have an idea as to why the material is useful, relevant or important. Everyone should have their own answer to the question: Why study mathematics?

One place to start is to see what other students like you think. The course designers surveyed about a thousand students who signed up for a course just like this one last semester at their community college. Of course, most students talked about wanting to finish all their math requirements quickly, or the team-oriented nature of the course, or the idea that the material is new and different from your typical Algebra class. They also talked about how they need the credits to get into their major.

But lots of students also talked about wanting to use math to actually solve real issues in their daily lives or in their jobs. They were frustrated that math classes in the past seemed like a bunch of rules to memorize, not a way to solve problems. But now that they are out of high school or coming back to college after working for a while, then they see that math gets used a lot in their lives—both personally and at work. They are tired of not knowing how to use math to get things done, and they are upset that past math classes weren’t designed to help them do those things.

For example, students talked about the ways that marketers at companies use math to hide things and trick you into signing up for services, or to get you to pay too much for something you won’t use. Math gets used every time you decide which cable package to sign up for, when you get a medical bill, when you look at interest on your credit cards, and when you pick one vendor over another. Marketers use math sometimes to make a product seem better or more widely used than it actually is—how can you make good decisions and save money if you can’t tell when they’re being sneaky?

Math also gets used in politics all the time. On TV they report surveys that, for instance, say 80% of people approve of something – but 80% of which people? How do you know if this is what all people really think?

Community college students often tell us that hey want to know the difference between numbers they can trust and something that’s intentionally tricky to convince you of something. These types of everyday math problems don’t require complicated math – it’s mostly addition, subtraction, division, etc. But they do require complex thinking. And this course is about using straightforward math to do complex thinking to solve the real-world problems that people like you have told us they face every day.

We have designed the course so that instead of doing silly word problems that have no purpose, the problems you solve come directly from the type of things that students told us they want to know how to do. The thinking is hard, but it’s thinking that everyone can learn how to do, and that everyone needs to know how to do.

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Intro to MyQuantway

A handout and suggestions for helping students log into the platform is posted in the Quantway Faculty Resource Course on MyQuantway.org.

Self-Regulated Learning (Applicable to only Quantway at this time)

Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) activities are integrated into the out-of-class activities.

Doing one’s homework is a crucial activity for understanding mathematics content and successfully completing a mathematics course. How much time students spend on their homework is only one factor in successful homework completion. The quality of time spent on task, including managing distractions, self-efficacy, perceived responsibility for learning, setting goals, self-reflection, managing time, and setting a place for homework completion are more effective than only measuring the time spent on homework (Ramdass & Zimmerman, 2011). The SRL activities are designed to improve the quality and effectiveness of the students’ out of class learning time.

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Mindsets Activity (30 - 40 min.)

Overview:

The activity explores students’ beliefs, and motivations. It also explores how students learn and how they relate to others. Please carefully read all of the instructions.

Students should complete this activity during class time, when they have the chance to work quietly and productively. Do not assign it for homework or allow students to work collaboratively on it.

The activity will take about 30 minutes. Students will answer questions about themselves and learn about the brain. Any students who finish early should be asked to quietly work on homework. Please assist students if they have difficulty understanding any words or concepts. However, please do not discuss the content of the activity with them.

Instructions for Paper Administration:

If students are completing the activity on paper, please hand out the article “you can grow your intelligence” and the paper with the three questions. Ask students to complete the writing exercises on their own paper.

In this intervention, students make sense of the content of the mindset article individually. The instructor should not comment on nor provide feedback to the student responses. It is also unnecessary to send student responses back to the Carnegie Foundation.

Instructions for Online Administration:

All students completing the activity online should be directed to this website: http://www.myquantway.org/mindset

Remember, please have students complete the activity in class and not for homework, especially if they do it online.

Warning:

Students should NOT be told that this activity is intended to improve their performance or change the way they think about math and statistics class. Currently, research finds that this can make students expect the activity to work quickly, and it has no effect when they do so. Instead, it is best to emphasize that the activity is intended to teach them what the "Quantway Mindset" is. Also emphasize that they are helping to improve the Quantway by explaining the Quantway Mindset in their own words to future students.

Script:

Today, you will be working on an activity that will introduce you to the Quantway Mindset. The purpose of the study is to learn more about how you learn, what motivates you to learn, and what you think about your peers. We also need your help explaining the Quantway Mindset in your own words to future students.

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Your honest opinions will help us improve how college courses are taught for you and other students like you.

Suggested Responses to Student Questions:

Is this for all the students in the Quantway? Yes, all students in the Quantway across the country will complete this activity.

Do I have to do this? Your opinions are important, so I hope that you would at least try. (If a student refuses again, just accept this and please note it on your feedback forms to us.)

Why should I do this? Because all of my students are doing this exercise today and we will learn important information.

Will I get a grade on this? It’s not graded. But, when you provide good answers, it will help Quantway faculty to do a better job teaching students like you in the future.

Does spelling/grammar matter? No, just concentrate on getting your ideas across.

Transition to "rich task":

Following the mindset activity students should engage in a rich, challenging task. Suggested placement for the mindset activity within the Quantway course launch can be found on page 2 of this document. Below are suggested rich tasks that are found in the Quantway curriculum.

Problem choices to follow immediately after mindset activity:

Lesson 1.1

Lesson 1.2, Problem Situation #2

For a shorter problem, instructors could use the problem below (it is a modified version of OCE problems #5 and #6 from Lesson 1.2.

Some types of investments—such as Certificates of Deposit—earn interest based on a percentage rate. People often estimate the doubling time of investments to predict how much money the investment will be worth in the future. An investment that earns 2% interest will double in value about every 35 years.

Estimate within 5 years the amount of time it would take an investment of $6000 to reach one hundred thousand dollars.

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Syllabus Activity II - Syllabus Quiz (20 min.)

On the first day of class we did not spend time going over all the details of the syllabus. After the students have completed a couple of the lessons, a couple of homework assignments and have been introduced to MyQuantway, they will better understand the components of the course and a review of the syllabus might be more meaningful to them. One way to accomplish this review without reading the syllabus to the class is to give a syllabus quiz. The first part of the quiz can be whether or not they still have a syllabus. Create a quiz that asks questions about the aspects of the course you think are most important for students to know. When you give the students the quiz you might want to allow them to use the syllabus as a reference, particularly if you have asked detailed questions.

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Change Ideas Out for Testing (2013 - 2014)

In an effort to improve student outcomes, we are continuously culling and testing promising interventions from academic research and successful classrooms. Below are descriptions of interventions that have shown initial promise during small scale testing. During the current academic year we are testing these interventions more broadly within the network in an effort to achieve the same efficacy reliably in an increased number of classrooms. Broadly reliable, efficacious interventions would then become part of the core Starting Strong activities.

In an effort to get new interventions and routines to improve student outcomes reliably at scale we need a large number of willing testers. Please consider becoming an intervention tester. More information, along with the activities in their entirety can be found on Quantway.org in the Productive Persistence block in the instructor resource course.

1) Change Idea Title: Student Group Noticing Routine Driver: Belonging/Social Ties

Description: When a student is absent on a given day, a fellow group member contacts the student to relay important information and encourage attendance to the next class. NOTE: This routine assumes you have students in groups throughout the term. (Author: Kristin Spiegelberg, Cuyahoga CC)

2) Change Idea Title: Group Role Cards Driver: Belonging/Social Ties

Description: Students use group role cards to encourage proper participation in groups and to assess other students’ group participation when acting as the facilitator of the group. (Author: Sandy DeSousa, San Jose State College)

3) Change Idea Title: Faculty Email Routines Driver: Belonging/Social Ties

Description: The following email routines are to improve communications with individual students, with the whole class in an effort to improve attendance and participation, along with communicating the instructor cares about their success. (Author: Nicole Gray, Foothill College)

1. Absent Student Email Routine: Faculty use a checklist and/or standard email message template to contact students when they are absent on a given day.

2. Email Response Routine: Faculty use a checklist to effectively respond to student email messages.3. Weekly Email Message Routine: Faculty use a checklist to provide a weekly email message to all

students informing them of the “plan” for the week.4. Whole Class Email Reminders: Faculty use email reminders to help keep attendance rates up at the end

of the term.

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4) Change Idea Title: Mindset Booster Driver: Growth Mindset

Description: Not all students will benefit from the initial growth mindset activity, and even those who do may lose sight of the potential for growth when they get to a challenging part of the course. This is a one-page “booster shot” designed to remind students of the growth mindset (and give them reason for hope) when they are feeling discouraged. Faculty could administer it at a scheduled time (i.e., after or before a challenging test; after the “productive struggle” portion of a new unit). Or faculty could save it for when they start to sense a lull in student motivation. There are four versions of the booster so that it could be delivered at different times, or so that a version that matches students’ feelings at the time could be selected. 5) Change Idea Title: Everyday Phrases that Promote a Growth Mindset Driver: Growth Mindset

Description: There are one-time activities to create a growth mindset, but what can you say on a daily basis to create it? And how can you avoid teaching a fixed mindset? This is a test “cheat sheet” for growth mindset phrases to use and fixed mindset phrases to avoid. Test it by writing your own phrases before the school year starts or build this worksheet into your peer observations and evaluations. Help each other get better at it!

6) Change Idea Title: Reflecting on Your Purpose for Learning Driver: Purpose/Relevance

Description: A great deal of attention has been placed on mindsets about ability—whether students can learn math or not. But it’s also important to focus on mindsets about purpose—why students should be learning from their math coursework. This is a one-time reading and writing exercise that is similar to the growth mindset exercises in that it is designed to lead students to reflect on beliefs that can help them stay motivated. Specifically, this asks students to focus on reasons for learning that go beyond the typical motives of making money or making family proud. Instead, it asks students to think about their personal reasons for pursuing interests and for making a contribution to some part of the world beyond the self. In our Alpha Lab experiments conducted at community colleges last year, we found that this one-time activity could increase overall GPA in science and math courses by .2 to .3 points.

7) Change Idea Title: Student Question Data Collection Driver: Data Gathering

Description: The instructor asks a student to use a form to track which students ask questions during class. When a student asks a question, the instructor is careful to say the name of the student asking the question so the recorder can collect accurate data.

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This package is part of QUANTWAY®, A Pathway Through College-Level Quantitative Reasoning, which is a product of a Carnegie Networked Improvement Community that seeks to advance student success. The original version of this work, version 1.0, was created by The Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin under sponsorship of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This version and all subsequent versions result from the continuous improvement efforts of the Carnegie Networked Improvement Community. The network brings together community college faculty and staff, designers, researchers and developers. It is a research and development community that seeks to harvest the wisdom of its diverse participants through systematic and disciplined inquiry to improve developmental mathematics instruction. For more information on the Quantway® Networked Improvement Community, please visit carnegiefoundation.org.

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