Math Academy Gives Students a Second Chance at College Admission

 

by Kysa Daniels

 

Marsha Smith is feeling fiercely optimistic these days, thanks to a Georgia Perimeter College program designed to strengthen her math skills.

 

Smith applied to GPC about one year ago, but ran into a barrier after taking the Compass college entrance exam. She took the test twice, doing well on the English and reading portions, but falling just shy of passing the math section.

 

“It was a struggle for me,” she confesses.

 

This made Smith a prime candidate for the Compass Academic Review and Enrichment (C.A.R.E.) program’s Math Academy, which was launched on Georgia Perimeter’s Clarkston, Decatur and Dunwoody campuses in March. Smith and 80 other prospective GPC students enrolled in the program—sponsored through a generous $1 million gift from the Betty and Davis Fitzgerald Foundation—to receive eight weeks of one-on-one, intensive math instruction and tutoring. The goal is for these potential students to re-take the Compass test—and pass.

 

Getting Up and Starting Over

 

Dr. Nate Holmes, director of Advising, Counseling and Retention Services on Decatur Campus, oversees the program and likens it to a boot camp for math.

 

“It gives students a second chance to gain admission to college,” he says.

 

In fact, it was Holmes who told Smith about the Math Academy. They met last fall, on a day when Smith wasn’t feeling so confident. Recently divorced, Smith was leaving the Decatur Campus Learning and Tutoring Center, having just learned she missed the Compass cut off score for math by two points.

 

Holmes greeted Smith, and was a little surprised by her response.

 

“I said ‘I’m through, they can keep it,’” Smith recalls of her sharp retort to Holmes and her reference to giving up on college.

 

Holmes took the opportunity to engage Smith further, listen to her story and then tell her about a “great” new program that might help. He also offered encouragement.

 

“He told me, ‘you’re going to fall, but it’s when you choose not to get up that you have a problem,’” Smith remembers with emotion.

 

It would be a few months before the Math Academy began, but Holmes speaks lightheartedly about Smith’s anticipation.

 

“This is someone who called me on a weekly basis asking ‘when is that program going to start?’”

 

 

Walking the Walk

 

Smith hasn’t missed a Math Academy session and says she’s never late. Her 19-year-old daughter, one of GPC’s former DeKalb Early College Academy participants, is a strong influence.

 

“For years, I had been telling my daughter, get an education, be a good citizen–you know, good things a mother says.”

 

The only problem, Smith says, is that she wasn’t walking the walk herself. Then there was her divorce in 2012 after 24 years of marriage. As a single parent, Smith says she now needs to earn more money. The Jamaican native describes being on one job for 10 years, yet always being passed over for promotions.

 

“I had the passion; I had the drive; and I had the proven mindset that said, ‘hey she’s going to work hard, she’s going to get it done,’ but what about this part that says you need a bachelor’s degree or an associate’s degree,” Smith says.

 

Road to Improvement

 

Holmes says Math Academy is designed for prospective students like Smith. She and the other applicants were selected from a pool of more than 450 eligible participants based on how close they were to the acceptable score on the math exam. Potential Math Academy participants had to have scored within five points of the 20-point minimum admission score, and they also had to pass the English and reading portions of the Compass.

 

Had Smith met the math exam threshold the first time around, say testing at 20, she still would need to take a mandatory Learning Support class to prepare her for college-level math.

 

The number of Learning Support students at Georgia Perimeter has dropped 58 percent in recent years, according to GPC Interim President Rob Watts. One reason is because passing the Compass test is now an admissions requirement, whereas it previously was used as a placement indicator only.

 

Watts champions the added support that programs such as the Math Academy provide in terms of widening college access.

 

“The task is to help more students meet our academic standards and to help them also overcome the nonacademic barriers many face,” he says.

 

The Fitzgerald gift will enable GPC to implement programs such as the Math Academy over the next four years by providing funds for instructors, tutors and class materials, including books. Students who have participated in the program also will be eligible for textbook scholarships starting this fall.

 

Holmes says there is a similar academy focused on English and reading that is currently operating on Clarkston Campus.

 

This summer, GPC also will offer a Summer Institute, which includes tutorial and intensive instruction in English, reading and math, as well as a student success course to help students make the transition to Georgia Perimeter College.

 

Journey of Success

 

Meanwhile, instructors such as Tia Skipper at the Decatur Math Academy hope they are giving students like Smith tools to succeed.

 

“I’m not quite sure how many of our students will make that Compass score or even beyond, but I am confident that they will leave our program much better prepared and more knowledgeable in mathematics than they came in the door,” Skipper says.

 

Smith praises Skipper and co-instructor John Beatty, who she says are helping her better understand math and doing so in a supportive and nurturing manner.

 

Compass re-test scores for students such as Smith won’t be known until mid-May, but Holmes points to a pilot program conducted last summer as evidence intensive tutoring and instruction  work. Of the 16 pilot participants, he says 14 successfully completed the program, and more than half of those gained admission to GPC. This year’s Summer Institute will be patterned after the pilot program held last summer.

 

Smith is confident she’ll be among the number of positive outcomes.

 

“If I go in there right now and take that Compass test,” she says. “I guarantee you, I will pass.”