2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Title: Math Placement to Performance: Grades, Retention, Graduation, and the Path to EMPOWER.

Abstract: While mathematics remains foundational to engineering and engineering science degrees, student pathways into their college-level mathematics coursework can be tumultuous. At the university in this study, students may place into their first semester’s math course from an internal predictive model, the ALEKS Placement test, college-level testing (such as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate scores), or transfer credit from other institutions. Mathematics coursework for students in the college of engineering includes two possible calculus tracks and prerequisites to those calculus tracks. In this paper, gathered institutional data from Fall 2018 through Fall 2023 about all students who declared a major in the college of engineering at some point during that time (N= 3,672), their math placement mechanism and scores, their university application race and gender selections, GPA by semester, graduation information (if applicable), and some course grades (in math, physics, and chemistry, as available). In this paper, we assess the success of math placement mechanisms at the university as demonstrated by students’ mathematics coursework, adjacent science coursework, and their degree attainment. We use multi-level logistic modeling to answer whether student placement mechanism predicts (1) college graduation overall, (2) graduation from the college of engineering, (3) retention after 1 year, (4) success in introductory chemistry, and (5) success in introductory physics while accounting for variation by different years of entry. When multiple levels are not necessary, we assess a single level of the data using Chi-Square tests. We predict that a student’s math-placement mechanism will impact each of these variables of a student’s success. We additionally suspect that the placement mechanism tied to the highest success in these variables is from college-level test scores and the lowest success may come from transfer credit placement. Considering the results about placement, course success, and graduation, we introduce and motivate the work from the institution’s engineering math support program, which began its work at the end of the data set. The program includes math placement support for incoming students, math coursework support for early-degree students, and major-based coursework consultations for faculty peers.