Impact of intermediate courses on first year retention and academic performance in English composition and college algebra at a southern regional university

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not there was a difference in the final letter graded earned in freshmen level English and mathematics courses of first-time freshmen who enrolled in intermediate courses and those who did not enroll in intermediate courses. The rate at which students returned for the sophomore year was also analyzed to determine whether or not there was a difference between those who had taken intermediate courses and those who had not. First-time freshmen who enrolled in the fall semesters of 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 who scored 16 or below on the English or mathematics subtests of the American College Test (ACT) were studied. In the fall semesters of 2000 and 2001, first-time freshmen were required to successfully complete intermediate courses prior to enrolling in freshman level academic courses. However, in the fall semesters of 1998 and 1999, first-time freshmen enrolled in freshman level academic courses without enrolling in intermediate level courses. The English 101 end-of-the-semester letter grades of 96 freshmen were analyzed using a t test and ANCOVA. It was determined that there was not a statistical difference among those students who did not take intermediate English and those students who did take intermediate English. The Mathematics 104 end-of-the-semester letter grades of 143 freshmen were analyzed using a t test and ANCOVA. The t test revealed a significant difference between those students who did take intermediate mathematics and those students who did take intermediate mathematics. The retention rates of those students who scored 16 or below on the English or mathematics subtests of the ACT were analyzed using multiple chi-square tests. The retention rates for the intermediate students were analyzed against the retention rates of the entire freshmen class for each of the four years this study covered. First-time freshmen who completed intermediate courses in English or mathematics prior to completing freshmen level English or mathematics returned to the university at a significantly higher rate than did the students who did not complete intermediate courses.