Chapter 6: Redesigning the Gateway College Algebra Course with Inclusive and Asset-Based Pedagogy: Rethinking “Servingness” at a Hispanic Serving Institution: Rethinking ,Servingness- at a Hispanic Serving Institution

Nationwide evidence of disproportionate numbers of Latinx students placing into developmental or remedial college courses (usually math and English) have raised important equity concerns (Ganga & Mazzariello, 2018; Kurlaender & Howell, 2012; Schak, Metzger, Bass, McCann, & English, 2017). Students who take remedial college courses are less likely to persist, enter their chosen majors (especially in STEM fields), transfer from 2- to 4-year institutions, and complete their degrees. In particular, college algebra—with estimated failure rates of 50%—often functions as a gatekeeper by derailing students’ college pathways rather than as a gateway (Gordon, 2008). This national problem for racially minoritized students presents an urgent challenge for all colleges and universities, but especially Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), which are charged with serving these students. Garcia, Núñez, and Sansone (2019) argue that HSIs must change their institutional structures, including their curricula, to strengthen their servingness. This chapter addresses this issue by describing the process and results of redesigning the college algebra course (Math 2) at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). College algebra can be the gateway course to quantitative-based majors, courses, and degree completion, but at UCSC, it is considered “developmental” (remedial), so it does not count as a required course for any STEM major. Moreover, disproportionate increases occurred between 2010 and 2016 in the numbers of UCSC Latinx students enrolling in Math 2 based on their entering math placement scores, with 1,626 Latinx students compared to 661 White students.