PEP Helps Freshmen Start College With Math Confidence

Richard O'Malley (center left) and Eric Key (center right) have brought PEP to UWM.

MILWAUKEE -- An initiative launched last summer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is reducing the number of incoming freshmen at UWM whose scores on the freshman placement test put them in non-credit math courses.

Created by mathematical science professors Richard O'Malley and Eric Key, the Mathematics Placement Enhancement Program (PEP) enables new freshmen to brush up on math skills before taking the placement test, but without spending time on skills they already know.

PEP consists of one on one faculty support plus a computer review program called ALEKS (Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces). Designed by a California company, ALEKS contains an artificial intelligence component that that customizes the material to the abilities of the individual student.

The results confirm the two professors' belief that far fewer freshmen need to be in non-credit remedial math courses. Of the students enrolled in the program in the summer of last year and who took the placement exam a second time, 53 percent placed higher on the exam than the first time without the tutorial. And 67 percent who would have placed into non-credit remedial math were able to raise their performance high enough to take a for-credit math course.

The program gives students a confidential and honest assessment of their capabilities. It also moves them through the material in a non-judgmental environment. There are no grades, students work at their own pace wherever they have Internet access, and they can consult an instructor either in person or online.

For high school students interested in applying to UWM or those who have already been accepted for fall, summer is a perfect time to enroll in Math PEP. UWM charges new freshmen no fees to participate in Math PEP, but each student must pay for the license to use ALEKS from the UWM Bookstore. Six weeks of access to the ALEKS Web site is $32, less than 10 percent of the cost of taking a non-credit math course.

But the best part of PEP is the confidence boost students get across the board, says O'Malley, the math professor who originated the program.

"To just put all these students in remedial is a massive drain on the resources of the university and emotionally depressing for the students," he says. "It affects programs in biology, chemistry, engineering, and business particularly hard because calculus is required for those programs."

ALEKS also provides benefits for advanced students. The program "probes ahead" to see how much material students can do, making it useful for students who don't want to waste time in courses that will be too easy, says Key.

Almost two-thirds of incoming freshmen place below grade level after taking the math placement test, which is required of all new freshmen in the UW System.

Funding of PEP is covered by a UW System grant with additional support from the College of Letters and Science. O'Malley and Key are testing the program at UWM, while George Alexander, a math faculty member at UW-Rock County, uses the program to augment classroom activities there.

Ultimately, they hope to see ALEKS used throughout the UW System in tandem with for-credit courses to indicate at what point students should be promoted to the next class.

Staff at UWM's Learning Technology Center (LTC) and the Center for Instructional and Professional Development (CIPD) helped the three apply for grants to fund the project.

For more information or to sign up for PEP, call the math department at 229-4836 or contact Richard O'Malley at 229-2996 (omalley@uwm.edu).

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