Methodology
Successful Transfer-Level Math Completion Rates by Math Pathway (SLAM or BSTEM)
The completion rate is the percentage of students in a given cohort who successfully complete a chosen Outcome (i.e., Calculus 1/Applied Calculus or higher, Calculus 2 or higher, Statistics/LA) within the specified timeframe (one, two, or three years). The cohort is defined by the academic year of the student's first math enrollment. The cohort size used in the calculation of the completion rate is determined by the First Transfer-level Course. Students who begin below the transfer level and never attempt a transfer-level course are excluded from the cohort in the calculation of the completion rate.
When the Outcome is not a course in the chosen Pathway, the cohort becomes the subset of students in the First Transfer-level Course in the pathway that also take a course in the other pathway.
Math courses are defined by the TOP code 1701.00 (Mathematics) as well as courses that meet transfer-level math or quantitative reasoning requirements in other TOP code areas including 0103.00 (Plant Science), 0501.00 (Business), 0504.00 (Banking & Finance), 0505.00 (Business Administration), 0599.00 (Other Business and Management), 0506.00 (Business Management), 0701.00 (Information Technology, General), 0702.00 (Computer Information Systems), 0706.00 (Computer Science), 0707.10 (Computer Programming), 0707.30 (Computer Systems Analysis), 0801.00 (Education, General), 1506.00 (Speech Communication), 1509.00 (Philosophy), 1701.00 (Math, General), 1799.00 (Other Math), 1702.00 (Mathematics Skills), 2001.00 (Psychology), 2003.00 (Behavioral Science), 2099.00 (Other Psychology), 2201.00 (Social Sciences), 2204.00 (Economics), and 2208.00 (Sociology). Math courses within other TOP codes were identified in collaboration with the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges. Additionally, courses with pre-transfer CB 21 codes (e.g., "A", "B", "C", or "D") were included as below transfer level. Transfer-level courses with math TOP codes were those courses with a CB21 code of “Y” (not prior to college level) and a CB05 transfer status code indicating that the course transfers to the UC and/or CSU system.
Successful Transfer-Level Completion Counts
Successful completions include A, B, C (including +/- grades where allowable), P, and CR grades, as well as incomplete grades equivalent to a passing grade (e.g., IA, IB, IC, IPP). Enrollments with grade codes of ID, IF, XX, DR, MW, RD, UD, UG, RD0, RD1, RD2, RD3, RD4, RD5, RD6, RD8, IX, INP and IP were not included in the analysis, as they do not represent valid enrollments or letter grades. Non-successful completions were defined as letter grades F, D (including +/- grades where allowable), W, EW, and NP (see COMIS for definitions of letter grades).
Excused withdrawals (EW) count as a valid enrollment and are considered a non-successful attempt. Refer to the AB 705 Implementation document for a comparison of completion rates with and without EW grades for the 2020-2021 cohort.
Completion Rates: Disaggregated (PPG-1 Methodology)
Users can disaggregate completion rates for students who start in a given mathematics pathway based on student characteristics to determine if disproportionate impact (DI) is present for the selected subgroup. Student groups who significantly perform below the average rate of all other groups are identified as DI with the Percentage Point Gap (PPG) method. PPG uses the average (excluding the group of interest i.e., PPG-1 method) as a reference taking sample sizes into account. Learn more about the calculation of the PPG-1.
See additional information below on the different disaggregations available in the dashboard.
Definitions/Filters
Selected Timeframe
The timeframe in which the outcomes will be tracked.
College
Students are included in the college cohort where they first enroll in transfer-level math and tracked across colleges. Completion is attributed to the starting college. For example, if a student’s first transfer-level math course is Precalculus at College A but the student later takes Calculus at College B, the throughput calculation for College A includes this student. The “Statewide” option aggregates this information across all colleges in the system.
Timeframe
Cohorts can be tracked for one, two, or three years. The one-year timeframe includes students who completed a transfer-level class within one year (365 days) of their initial math attempt. Two- and three-year timeframes extend this logic for two or three years.
Based on the year selected and the duration of the timeframe, cohorts are shaded a different color if the timeframe is not fully observed in the data. Cohorts that are not fully observed might end up with higher throughput rates than displayed as students continue to achieve the outcome over the chosen period.
Pathway
Students are classified as part of the BSTEM or SLAM pathway based on their course-taking behavior rather than by their declared major because data on declared majors are often not available or do not reflect changes students make to their major over time. Students who attempt a transfer-level math course are included in the dashboard, whether or not they have declared a major. The pathways are defined as follows:
BSTEM Pathway: First transfer-level math attempt is Trigonometry, College Algebra, Precalculus or a first calculus course (STEM Calculus I or Applied Calculus).
SLAM Pathway: First transfer-level math attempt is Liberal Arts Math or Statistics. This includes statistics courses taught in other disciplines (e.g., Psychology, Business).
First Transfer-Level Course
This filter is the name of the first attempted transfer-level course based on the selection of either the BSTEM or SLAM filter. First Transfer-Level Course (FTLC) defines a subset of students in the chosen mathematics pathway that will be used in the throughput calculation.
For the BSTEM pathway, the FTLC options include College Algebra, Trigonometry, Precalculus, Calculus 1/Applied Calculus. For the SLAM pathway, the FTLC option only includes Statistics/Liberal Arts Math. When FTLC is “All,” the cohort includes students whose first attempt was any course in the pathway.
Outcome
Users can select the desired outcome: Calculus 1/Applied Calculus or higher, Calculus 2 or higher, or Statistics/Liberal Arts Math. Statistics courses are courses equivalent to C-ID Math 110 that are taught in the math department as well as statistics courses taught in other disciplines (e.g., Psychology, Business). Liberal Arts math courses are transfer-level general education courses and are not part of C-ID. Applied Calculus is a course equivalent to C-ID Math 140 (Business Calculus). Calculus I is a course equivalent to C-ID Math 210 or 211 (Single Variable Calculus Early (Late) Transcendentals). Calculus 2 is equivalent to C-ID Math 220 or 221. Courses higher than Calculus 2 include multivariable calculus (C-ID Math 230), ordinary differential equations (C-ID Math 240), and linear algebra (C-ID Math 250). See c-id.net Final Descriptors for full course descriptions.
Disaggregation
This filter allows users to select different student variables to determine the presence of disproportionate impact (see Methodology above). Only student variables available in the COMIS system may be reported in the dashboard. Based on the student variable selected, a set of included subgroups will appear. If disproportionate impact is present for a subgroup, a circle will appear in the visualization around the specific data point. See an outline of student variables below.
| Category | Comments |
|---|---|
| Age Group | Calculated field based on age at first enrollment in the discipline. |
| Ethnicity | Displays only African American, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races. |
| First Generation (First Gen) | Student is considered first generation if both parents or guardians have never attended college or attained an associate’s degree or higher as reported by the student at any college. The methodology follows the same structure as SM 108 First-Generation. |
| Gender | Female and Male only. Nonbinary and Unknown not graphed. |
| GPA Band BSTEM | GPA bands are those included in the default placement rules for BSTEM. |
| GPA Band SLAM | GPA bands are those included in the default placement rules for BSTEM. |
Note: Enrollment in special programs (i.e., DSPS, EOPS, veterans, or foster youth) were included as enrolled in the program if enrollment occurred at any point within the timeframe of the data file. Enrollment in the program did not have to take place at the time of enrollment in a math or English course.
