ALEKS: Placing students and beyond! S.I.G.M.A Seminar Series
University of Connecticut
By
Amit Savkar
Outline
! What is ALEKS.
! Which students need to take ALEKS.
! FAQ on ALEKS implementation.
! Instruction change and implementation.
! Data analysis from Fall 2013.
! Data collection for Spring 2014.
What is ALEKS?
! Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces
! Artificial intelligence assessment tool.
! Adaptive questioning to accurately determine strengths and weaknesses of students in mathematical knowledge.
! Provides options of remediation to get better.
! Places students based on their prior knowledge.
Who needs to take ALEKS at UConn?
! All Engineering majors.
! All degree programs that confer BS degrees to students.
! Several majors from CLAS ! Biology
! Chemistry
! Mathematics etc.
! List of all majors can be found here ! http://placement.uconn.edu/mathematics-placement
How does the placement work at UConn?
! Freshmen students take ALEKS before their orientation.
! The placement score is used to place them in appropriate Math course. ! 76% and above place in Math 1131. ! 75% and 61% placed in Math 1060.
! For Math 1131/1151 and Math 1132/Math1152 ALEKS placement score is a required pre-requisite.
! ALEKS score is recommended for Math1060
What about transfer students, AP, ECE credits?
! Transfer students who have credit for Math 1131 need to have an ALEKS score to be placed in Math 1132.
! Students with transferred AP credits and ECE credits also need to take ALEKS placement exam and get a qualifying score to be allowed to enroll in Math 1132.
ALEKS score distribution for Fall 2013
PlacementResult1008 06 04 02 00
Freq
uenc
y
125
100
7 5
5 0
2 5
0
HistogramCatalog: 1131Q
Mean = 81.16 Std. Dev. = 8.216 N = 854
Page 1
PlacementResult1008 06 04 02 0
Freq
uenc
y
4 0
3 0
2 0
1 0
0
HistogramCatalog: 1060Q
Mean = 64.7 Std. Dev. = 11.857 N = 286
Page 1
Key for Instruction is ALKES knowledge slices!
y"="$3.6347x"+"103.7"R²"="0.6223"
y"="$5.8693x"+"100.66"R²"="0.61346"
y"="$6.4691x"+"76.477"R²"="0.61931"
!20$
0$
20$
40$
60$
80$
100$
120$
1$ 2$ 3$ 4$ 5$ 6$ 7$ 8$ 9$ 10$ 11$ 12$
Average"Score"
Knowlege"Slice"
Average"ALEKS"scores"for"each"Knowledge"Slice"
76!100$
61!75$
0!60$
Linear(76!100)$
Linear(61!75)$
Linear(0!60)$
Change in instruction for pre-calculus and Calculus
! Math 1060 ! More rigorous in terms of pre-calculus material
! Focus of logs, exponential functions, trigonometry.
! Assessments in term of written quizzes.
! Should be able to get qualifying scores in ALEKS.
! Math 1131 ! More quizzes online and in-class.
! Worksheets to address specific knowledge gaps.
Grades of students in Math 1060 who took ALEKS
Letter Grade in Math 1060
Number of students
Percentage
A 44 16
B 76 28
C 80 29
DFW 74 27
TOTAL 274 100
16%
28% 29% 27%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
A B C DFW %
of s
tude
nts
Final grade in Math 1060 Q
Grade distribution of students in Math1060 who took ALEKS
A
B
C
DFW
Grades of students in Math 1060 who did not take ALEKS
Letter Grade in Math 1131
Number of students
Percentage
A 25 17
B 25 17
C 31 22
DFW 63 44
TOTAL 144 100
17% 17% 22%
44%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
A B C DFW %
of s
tude
nts
Final grade in Math 1060 Q
Grade distribution of students in Math1060 who did not take
ALEKS
A
B
C
DFW
Number of student
ALEKS Score Range
Grade Range
17 20 to 40 D to D+
13 41 to 50 D+ to C-
30 51 to 60 C- to C
174 61 to 75 C to C+
40 76 to 100 C+ to B-
274 Total
Average course grade range for a given ALEKS score range for students in Math 1060
D to D+ D+ to C-
C- to C
C to C+
C+ to B-
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
20 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 61 to 75 76 to 100
Ave
rage
Gra
de
ALEKS Score range
Average course grade in Math 1060 versus AlEKS score range
20 to 40
41 to 50
51 to 60
61 to 75
76 to 100
Grade distribution of students in Math 1060 with less than qualifying ALEKS score of 61%
Grade Number of Students
Percentage
A 4 7
B 14 23
C 15 25
DFW 27 45
Total 60
7%
23% 25%
45%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
A B C DFW
% o
f stu
dent
s
Final grade in Math 1060 Q
Grade distribution of students in Math1060 with less than qualifying
ALEKS score of 61%
A
B
C
DFW
Grade distribution of students in Math 1060 with recommended qualifying ALEKS score of
61% and above
Grade Number of Students
Percentage
A 40 19
B 62 29
C 65 30
DFW 47 22
Total 214 100
19%
29% 30%
22%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
A B C DFW
% o
f stu
dent
s
Final grade in Math 1060 Q
Grade distribution of students in Math1060 with required qualifying
ALEKS score of 61% and above
A
B
C
DFW
Grades distribution for students in Math 1060 who took ALEKS as pretest (N =172)
Grades in Math 1060
ALEKS Pretest
Percentage
A 24 14
B 37 22
C 58 38
D 53 31
TOTAL 172 100.0
14%
22%
34% 31%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
A B C D
% of stude
nts
Grades in Math 1060
Grade distribu5on of students in Math 1060 who took ALEKS only as a Pretest (N
= 172)
A
B
C
D
Grades distribution for students in Math 1060 who took ALEKS as pretest and post test and
obtained qualifying score of 76% and above in post test. (N = 96)
Grades in Math 1060
ALEKS Pretest and Post test
Percentage
A 19 20
B 38 40
C 20 21
D 19 20
TOTAL 96 100.0
20%
40%
21% 20%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
A B C D
% of stude
nts
Grades in Math 1060
Grade distribu5on of students in Math 1060 who got a qualifying ALEKS score of 76% and
above as a PosJest (N=96)
A
B
C
D
Grade distribution of students in Math 1060 who got qualifying score of 76% on ALEKS post
test to qualify for Math 1131.
14
5
18
14
6 7
6 7
4
2
5
8
0 0 0 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
A A- B B- B+ C C- C+ D D- D+ F I W X
No
of s
tude
nts
Letter Grade in Math 1060
Grade distribution of students in Math 1060 who got qualifying scores on ALEKS post test.
A
A-
B
B-
B+
C
C-
C+
D
D-
D+
F
I
W
X
Grades of student in Math 1131 who took ALEKS
Letter Grade in Math 1131
Number of students
Percentage
A 231 27.6
B 281 33.6
C 165 19.7
DFW 160 19.1
TOTAL 837 100
27.6
33.6
19.7 19.1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
A B C DFW %
Gra
des
Letter Grades
Grade distribution for students who took ALEKS
A
B
C
DFW
Grades of students in Math 1131 who did not take ALEKS
Letter Grade in Math 1131
Number of students
Percentage
A 21 11.1
B 38 20.1
C 50 26.5
DFW 80 42.3
TOTAL 189 100
11.1
20.1
26.5
42.3
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
A B C DFW %
Gra
des
Letter Grades
Grade distribution for students who did not take ALEKS
A
B
C
DFW
D to D+
C- to C
C+ to B- C+ to B- B- to B B- to B
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
1 2 3 4 5 6
AV
ER
AG
E G
RA
DE
ALEKS range code
Average grade versus ALEKS score range
1
2
3
4
5
6
Range Code
ALEKS Score Range
Grade Range
1 0 to 60 D to D+
2 61 to 75 C- to C
3 76 to 80 C+ to B-
4 81 to 85 C+ to B-
5 86 to 90 B- to B
6 90 to 100 B- to B
Average course grade range for a given ALEKS score range for students in Math 1131
Grade distribution of students in Math 1131 with less than qualifying ALEKS score of 76%
Grade Number of Students
Percentage
A 5 5.74
B 24 27.58
C 20 22.98
DFW 38 43.67
Total 87
5.75%
27.59%
22.99%
43.68%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
A B C DFW
% o
f stu
dent
s
Final grade in Math 1131 Q
Grade distribution of students with less than 76% ALEKS qualifying score
A
B
C
DFW
Grade distribution of students in Math 1131 with required qualifying ALEKS score of 76%
and above Grade Number of
Students Percentage
A 226 30.13
B 257 34.26
C 145 19.33
DFW 122 16.26
Total 750
30.13%
34.27%
19.33%
16.27%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
A B C DFW
% o
f stu
dent
s
Final grade in Math 1131 Q
Grade distribution of students with greater than 76% ALEKS qualifying
score
A
B
C
DFW
Grade distribution by Majors for students who did not take ALEKS.
Major Number of
students
Percent Average Grade Range
CLAS 89 47.09 D+ to C-
ENGG 8 4.23 D+ to C-
ACES 68 35.98 D+ to C-
BUSS 10 5.29 C+ to B-
AGRI&NR
7 3.70 D to D+
OTHERS
7 3.70 C+ to B-
Total 189 100 D to D+
D+ to C
D+ to C-
D+ to C-
C+ to B- D to D+ C+ to B-
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
1 2 3 4 5 6
% o
f stu
dent
s
MAJORS: 1=CLAS,2=ENGG,3=ACES, 4=BUSS,5=AGRI&NR,6=OTHER
Average grade by majors for student who did not take ALEKS
1
2
3
4
5
6
Grade distribution by Majors for students who took ALEKS.
Major Number of
students
Percent Average Grade Range
CLAS 205 24.49 C+ to B-‐
ENGG 330 39.43 B-‐ to B
ACES 241 28.79 C to C+
BUSS 8 0.96 C+ to B-‐
AGRI&NR 45 5.38 C+ to B-‐
OTHERS 8 0.96 B+ to A-‐
Total 837 100 C+ to B-‐
C+ to B-
B- to B
C to C+
C+ to B-
C+ to B-
B+ to A-
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
1 2 3 4 5 6
% o
f stu
dent
s
MAJORS: 1=CLAS,2=ENGG,3=ACES, 4=BUSS,5=AGRI&NR,6=OTHER
Average grade by majors for student who took ALEKS
1
2
3
4
5
6
Data collection for Spring 2014
! New data integration portal created.
! Upload data into a secure site.
! https://qcmath.uits.uconn.edu
! Works with the wired connection only.
! Accessing this website from outside use VPN.
Thank You!
! All the TAs for Math 1060, Math 1131 in Fall 2013
! Steven Pon for Math 1060 data analysis.
! Jeff Winston from ACES for data integration and merging.
! Jonathan Judge for creating the new website.