Mission Statement

The mission of the Mathematics Department is to meet the mathematics needs of all Butte College students by offering quality mathematics instruction. Our department serves transfer level students from two primary groups: STEM and non-STEM majors. Through our commitment to excellent teaching in a supportive environment, our students develop mathematical expertise, comprehension, and confidence.

Program Description

The Mathematics Department offers a comprehensive two-year program leading to an Associate of Science Degree in Mathematics. The AS-T degree in Mathematics is designed for students who will transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a degree in mathematics. The program allows the students to transfer with all of their freshman and sophomore requirements completed. The mathematics department also offers courses designed as general education for other majors (complete list available).

Student Learning/Administrative Unit Outcomes

As a department we felt that it was important that during the SLO discussion we would read through the brief reflections for our group and brainstorm what student supports we and/or the institution could try to either implement for the first time, expand upon, or continue with.  We then came back together as a large group and shared out our ideas.  6 major themes emerged: Support, Tutoring, Retention Specialists, Late work Policies, Technology, and Transportation.
Support:

We feel strongly that a department level secretary must be placed back in the new Mathematics building when the time comes.  We are one of the largest departments on campus serving around a third of all Butte College students each semester.  The large amount of student traffic coming through the Math Department Office is important to note.  If student retention, equity, and success are valued by the College then it must be a priority to have a point of contact in close proximity for students when they are experiencing a problem or are needing support.  As stated above the Math Department will no longer be able to offer many supports without a department level secretary in the building.
We need to re-instate / hire graders.  This helps get immediate feedback to students which contributes to student understanding and ultimately student success.

Tutoring:

We would like to see online CAS tutoring continue, even post Covid.  It provides students who work, have family commitments, etc.  to access tutoring from wherever they are when it is convenient for them. (Not just during on campus hours).
We feel STRONGLY that when we move into the new Mathematics building that we be allowed to re-open Math Lab.  It is important to note that if a departmental level secretary or some other person who is allowed to supervise is not placed back in the new Mathematics building then this support will no longer be there for students.  Math Lab is a huge and vital support for students.  It provides the following services to students:

ü  allowing them access to computers to do their online math homework
ü  gives them access to math faculty that hold office hours in Math Lab
ü  provides study group space so that students can meet up and work together
ü  close proximity to their instructors in case they need to ask questions while doing their homework

For the future Math Lab in the new Mathematics building, we are hoping to collaborate with CAS to get Math Tutors placed in the Math Lab rather than just lab monitors.
We are currently piloting an embedded tutoring program in some of the below transfer level courses, as well as Math 17.  This pilot program has been expanded to now four instructors (Brooke Kennedy, Rita Nutsch, Ripandeep Aulakh and Scott Giannini) and covers at least seven sections.  We now have embedded tutors in both face-to-face and online modalities.  We are continuing to meet with Bobby Withrow-Clark, Miya Clark, and Amy Hughes, as well as the tutors themselves to improve and expand this program to better serve students and to aid with student success and retention..
We feel that moving forward it would be helpful to hire a fulltime person (not a student) to tutor Math 18 (Introduction to Statistics) and Math 11 (Math for Liberal Arts).  Both courses are difficult to find tutors for because students often take them right before transferring, yet tutoring support is greatly needed because often the students who are taking these courses are lacking foundational math skills.

Retention Specialist:

We would like to see a reinstatement of Retention Specialists in math courses.  Especially below transfer level courses, Math 18, and Math 11.  In the past, Retention Specialists provided much needed support: teaching study skills and time management, tracking down students who aren’t attending regularly, etc..  We want our students to learn our objectives but often times it is the soft skills or life management skills that stand in there way.  Retention Specialists are able to provide that support.

Late Work Policies:

We as a department think that having late work policies in place are important because our students have a lot going on in their lives.  They experience many obstacles in the course of a semester, and we can’t assume that we know everything that they are going through.  By having a late work policy in place, it takes us and bias out of the decision hopefully contributing to more equitable outcomes.  Some of the ideas we came up with for late work policies were:

ü  Dropping 3 lowest homework scores so that if students miss an assignment, it doesn’t affect them.
ü  2-4 day late pass for students to cash in to do an assignment they miss.
ü  Have a set number of late passes students can use them whenever during the semester and they don’t have to ask.
ü  Allow late work to be turned in after the due date up until the night before the exam that covers those topics. (There were two thoughts on this one.  Either a small deduction on anything after the due date but still allowed to turn it in until the test OR no penalty until the test and if students turn in on due date give them extra credit.)
ü  Drop lowest test score and replace with Final Exam grade.
ü  Allow late work to be turned in and just dock points on a sliding scale. (This wasn’t as popular as the other options).
Technology:

The ViewSonic’s have finally been ordered and will be placed in all math classrooms as soon as they are received.  This will allow for instructors to record their lectures and board work as it is happening and post it and/or allow students to join the class virtually if needed.  It will also expand our teaching by allowing us to pull figures from many different sources (including online sources) and be able to show them and diagram on them to increase student understanding using visual aids.
We would like to continue to with free semester check outs of TI-83 graphing calculators to students in courses such as Math 18, Math 11, Math 118, etc.  This is an equity issue because these calculators are expensive, and these students will likely not use them again once they finish with their class.  However, without a department level secretary onsite to manage the checkouts we will likely have to discontinue the program which will greatly impact students.
We would also like to continue with free exam day borrowing of TI-83 graphing calculators to all students who either forgot their calculator or just need one for the day of an exam.  Again, this is an equity issue and again this will likely be discontinued if a department level secretary is not onsite to manage this.
We need to continue to provide TI-83 Emulators to online students who need them.
We need the Butte College IT department to continue to support us in having our laptops for lesson planning, writing tests and curriculum, committee work, etc. AND our Surface Pro’s for online teaching, making lecture videos, making help videos, etc. for students.

Transportation:

Expanded bus service is needed to make sure that students have access to not only their classes but extra supports such as, tutoring, office hours, etc.

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (Instruction Departments)

 

Math enrollments, conferred awards and retention remain high.  However, since the implementation of AB-705 Math success rates have hovered around 60%.  We anticipate with the further implementation of AB-705 for FA22 that these success rates will dip again.  The Butte College Math Department is committed to helping our students succeed in this changing climate.  To increase student success rates, the Math Department will be partnering with the Center for Academic Success (CAS) that if funded, will work together to implement the following supports for students starting in FA22.  These supports are:
1)       The reopening of the Math Lab (STEM support) and Stats Lounge (statistics support).
2)       For 22’-23’ academic year while Math is getting transfer level classes with support approved, the office of Professional Development will be offering Math faculty FLEX hours to work in these two locations above and beyond their 5 hours of office hours.     
3)       We will expand the Supplemental Instruction (SI) Program by hiring 15 S.I.s to support as many sections as possible of Math 4, 11, 12, 13, 18, 20, 26.
4)       We will pay a stipend to a Math faculty member to work with a member of CAS to create an Embedded Support Program.  While in development we will pilot embedded support for 2 sections each of Math 17 & 18 as well as 3 sections of Math 26 to come up with best practices to build into the program.
5)       We will hire two statistics interns as well as two STEM interns to help cover hours of tutoring and support while students can be recruited post pandemic.
6)       We will increase marketing for CAS and the available supports as well as use marketing to recruit student assistants to work as tutors.
The California Community College system is working towards the fulfillment of the Vision For Success and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. A central focus of the Vision is effective implementation of Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705). To ensure compliance all California Community Colleges have entered into an Equitable Placement and Completion: English and Math Validation of Practices and Improvement Plans (AB 705).  Colleges are required to maximize the probability that students will enter and complete transfer-level coursework in English and mathematics (or quantitative reasoning) within one year of initial enrollment in the discipline.
Butte College will be entering into Option 2 of the improvement plan. Option two is described below.
Option 2: By fall 2022, the college will have default transfer-level placement in both math/quantitative reasoning and English AND no pre-transfer-level enrollments (including multi-term transfer-level courses). If this is true of your college, complete Part A of the Improvement Plan. Be sure to review the practices provided throughout this form and use them to improve AB 705 implementation (review the pdf provided above).
Detailed in the Improvement Plan the math department is preparing for full compliance of AB 705 and maximizing student throughput by implementing the following practices recommended in the Improvement plan guidelines.

Develop or expand support labs, tutoring centers, and embedded tutoring and incentivize student participation in these support services.
Integrate resources into gateway courses that connect students with support for basic needs, mental health services, stress management, etc.
Invest in professional development focused on high challenge, high support equity-minded teaching practices with the goal of achieving stronger, more consistent and more equitable pass rates across sections of the same transfer-level course.
 Invest in communities of practice for instructors teaching gateway courses to share activities and practices that humanize the classroom, promote interaction and engagement, foster a sense of belonging, communicate a belief in student capacity and growth, and mitigate stereotypethreat.
Create safe places for equity conversations about section-level success rate data disaggregated by race, income, gender, etc. to help faculty develop a reflective teaching practice that fosters innovation to improve learning outcomes for marginalized student populations

An additional aspect of AB 705 is the integration within the college’s Guided Pathways work.  Guided Pathways is seen as the vehicle to realize the Vision For Sucess. The integration includes practices defined by the California Guided Pathways framework and detailed in Butte Colleges Guided pathways plan to implement.  Those practices are listed within Pillar Two: Get On The Path, practices B and C.
Practice B: Special supports are provided to help academically underprepared students to succeed in the program-relevant “gateway” math courses by the end of their first year. (Note: This practice was added to the SOAA in February 2019)
Practice C: Intensive support is provided to help very poorly prepared students to succeed in college-level courses as soon as possible.
Other supports that if funded the Math Department plans on implementing are:
1)       Pay instructors to regularly meet this to develop “with support” transfer level courses.
2)       Hire graders to ensure that students receive immediate feedback on their work.
3)       Hire online and face-to-face retention specialists supervised by the office of Student Services and embedded or connected to sections of math courses.
4)       Buy replacement Surface Pros to ensure that Math faculty can continue to create support videos and teach remotely.
5)       Pay for professional development to help the Math Department further increase their knowledge of best practices for student support during this further AB-705 transition.
6)       Buy Math Type for Canvas to increase accessibility.
7)       Buy TI-84 emulators to increase access for online students.
8)       Buy a second laptop cart to use during activity hours in the “with support” transfer level courses.

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (All Other Departments)

Strategic Direction

1. Implementing AB 705
3. Closing Equity Gaps
4. Meeting enrollment targets
5. Meeting student achievement goals
As mentioned in the Vision for Success Student Achievement Standards section above, the Butte College Math Department’s number one priority is to support students while implementing AB-705.  This implementation and the supports that will be provided (if funded) will also help close equity gaps and meet enrollment targets and student achievement goals.  Again, the actions we would like to take (if funded) are:
1)       The reopening of the Math Lab (STEM support) and Stats Lounge (statistics support).
2)       For 22’-23’ academic year while Math is getting transfer level classes with support approved, the office of Professional Development will be offering Math faculty FLEX hours to work in these two locations above and beyond their 5 hours of office hours.     
3)       We will expand the Supplemental Instruction (SI) Program by hiring 15 S.I.s to support as many sections as possible of Math 4, 11, 12, 13, 18, 20, 26.
4)       We will pay a stipend to a math faculty member to work with a member of CAS to create an Embedded Support Program.  While in development we will pilot embedded support for 2 sections each of Math 17 & 18 as well as 3 sections of Math 26 to come up with best practices to build into the program.
5)       We will hire two statistics interns as well as two STEM interns to help cover hours of tutoring and support while students can be recruited post pandemic.
6)       We will increase marketing for CAS and the available supports as well as use marketing to recruit student assistants to work as tutors.
7)       Pay instructors to regularly meet this to develop “with support” transfer level courses.
8)       Hire graders to ensure that students receive immediate feedback on their work.
9)       Hire online and face-to-face retention specialists supervised by the office of Student Services and embedded or connected to sections of math courses.
10)   Buy replacement Surface Pros to ensure that Math faculty can continue to create support videos and teach remotely.
11)   Pay for professional development to help the Math Department further increase their knowledge of best practices for student support during this further AB-705 transition.
12)   Buy Math Type for Canvas to increase accessibility.
13)   Buy TI-84 emulators to increase access for online students.
14)   Buy a second laptop cart to use during activity hours in the “with support” transfer level courses.

Program Review

Mainly due to the implementaion of AB 705, we have not had a new Program Review since the last time we reported but are set to complete one in 22'-23'.
The 13 recommendations from our validation report dated March 2014 are:
1. The Technology building renovation is currently in the planning stages and should begin within the next two years. UPDATE: This project will be completed and we will be moving into the new building this June (2022).
2. When our building renovation is completed, our building will be renamed. UPDATE: The new building is named Mathematics.
3. We were able to increase the number of full-time faculty members to 19. We still continue to see a decrease in our associate faculty pool, but are less concerned than in the past due to the decreased number of course offerings overall.  UPDATE: Sadly we have had 3 full-time faculty members retire partially due to the pandemic and remote instruction.  As of FA22 we will be at 16 full-time faculty members and only 7 associate faculty members.  Since there has been an enrollment crisis due to wildfires and the pandemic we have been able to survive this decline in faculty. However, if enrollment comes up to pre-2018 levels we will need to hire faculty to ensure staffing.
4. All of our rooms in the Technology building (except 105B) were fitted with up-to-date equipment and other than the occasional glitch, it is working well.UPDATE: N/A
5. We have developed a combined beginning and intermediate algebra course.UPDATE: N/A
6. This remains a challenge in our STEM classes, Math 20, 26, and 30 due to using self-reporting of high school performance by students and a lack of understanding about the nature of Precalculus.UPDATE: Still remains a problem.
7. We have been given access to evening classroom space in Chico both at the Chico and Skyway Centers. This has eliminated our courses held on Chico State's campus and the many problems associated with that location.UPDATE: Still have access.
8. We continue to have a difficult time finding tutors for the Chico and Glenn Centers, but are making progress due to the hiring of interns from Chico State, and instructors being able to hold office hours between their classes.UPDATE: Still an issue.
9. In our Unit Plan, we continue to ask for district funding for the Math Lab. However, since money continues to come to us from Grant Funding, there is little incentive for the district to contribute.UPDATE: Was funded by SEAPAC
10. This recommendation suggests that we look at our data for classes below transfer all together under the title "Developmental Math." This would group 200 level classes with 100 level classes. Currently, Math 217 and Math 216 are the only classes contributing to our data reports. This has not been resolved and is no longer an issue due to the elimination of Math 216 and Math 217.UPDATE: N/A
11. The change in timing on Institute Day (from evening to afternoon) contributed to our Associate Faculty feeling marginalized and unimportant. Our recent meetings have included an hour to an hour and a half in break-out sessions where we specifically sought the contributions of ALL our faculty members. There will likely be several department meetings this spring where all will be invited to attend similar to the meetings that have been held in Chico for the last few semesters. However, since we offer classes from 7:20 am to 9:50 pm, the only time we can hope to all get together is on a Friday evening. The most convenient place for the vast majority would be at the Chico Center, which closes early on Fridays. It remains a challenge to find a common time when all can meet.UPDATE: Still an issue.
12. We continue to praise and heavily use the Print Shop and are supportive of it being fully funded and fully functioning. We are in support of increasing the number of employees in the Print Shop.UPDATE: N/A due to the pandemic.
13. We are happy to have our department secretary back to a 12 month position and ask that she not be required to relocate during summer and winter. We suggest scheduling classes in the Tech building during summer so that we can keep the air on and have her available to support both faculty and students. It is inconvenient and a waste of time and resources to continually pack up and move two to three times per year.UPDATE: Still an issue.

Department Goals

The goals for the Butte College Math Department are the following:
1)       Implement recommended practices to ensure underprepared students are successful.
2)      Maximize the probability that students will enter and complete transfer-level coursework within one year of initial enrollment in the discipline
3)      Increase student success rates.
4)       To reopen the Math Lab (STEM support) and Stats Lounge (statistics support).
5)       Increase faculty presence in Math Lab and Stats Lounge.
6)       Create an Embedded Support Program.
7)       Expand Supplemental Instruction (SI) to support as many sections as possible of Math 4, 11, 12, 13, 18, 20, 26.
8)       Ensure hours of tutoring and support while students assistants can be recruited post pandemic.
9)       Market CAS and all the available math supports as well as use marketing to recruit student assistants to work as tutors.
10)   Create “with support” transfer level courses and have them approved by 23’-24’.
11)   Ensure that students are provided with not only academic support but also any other support they might be needed to retain them.
12)   Participate in professional development to further increase our knowledge of best practices for student support during this further AB-705 transition.
13)   Ensure that math students and faculty have access to technological resources to support student success, as well as accessibility and access.

Future Development Strategies

Requested Non-Financial Resources

Current Financial Resources

Augmentation Requests