Dana Center Mathematics Pathways

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 6 claims (5 for, 1 mixed) · 6 studies (4 causal, 2 quant-synthesis), q3–q4 · 5 of 6 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description

A mathematics pathways programme developed by the Charles A. Dana Center to redesign postsecondary mathematics education around students' programme and career goals.

Components

• DCMP implementation costs and resource requirements: The report provides a preliminary list of cost ingredients for implementing DCMP, based on information available as of December 2020. As reported in Rutschow et al. (2019), "the average DCMP start-up cost for each college was about $140,450 over two years", with ongoing costs of $19,340 per year per college or $132 per student. Cost ingredients include personnel training, facilities, curricula with a homework platform fee of approximately $40 per student, and start-up activities such as pathway alignment and transfer agreements. (Dana Center Mathematics Pathways)
• Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) intervention model: DCMP is a developmental education intervention for community college students underprepared for college-level math. It offers three aligned math pathways—statistical reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and path to calculus—places students directly into college-level math courses with co-requisite supports, and uses "evidence-based curricula and pedagogy" with "integrated student supports". Curricula are contextualized around real-world problems and real datasets, using small group work, class discussions, and interactive lectures. (Dana Center Mathematics Pathways)

Claims

• In a cluster QED across two cohorts, DCMP increased the share of students ever passing a college-level math class by the end of the second semester [+M]
• DCMP's effect on overall college credits earned was not statistically significant in the RCT [~M]
• DCMP has positive effects on progressing in college, based on two studies meeting WWC standards [+W]
• DCMP has positive effects on progressing in developmental education, based on three studies meeting WWC standards [+M]
• In a propensity-score-matched QED, DCMP students passed college-level math at much higher rates than a two-to-three-semester sequence comparison [+M]
• In an RCT, DCMP significantly increased completion of the developmental math sequence and passing of college-level math [+M]

Related Products and Programmes

-

Key Sources

• What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. (2021, June). Dana Center Mathematics Pathways. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/718.

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	product
id	dana-center-mathematics-pathways
title	Dana Center Mathematics Pathways
description	A mathematics pathways programme developed by the Charles A.
status	review
moved_from	element/dcmp-cost-ingredients, element/dcmp-intervention-model
product_kind	programme
generated	by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — what-works-clearinghouse-institute-of

Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.