Abstracts Category : Other

A Quantitative Analysis of the SAILS (Seamless Alignment of Integrated Learning Support) Program Collaboration in a Community College Setting

by Kelley E Thomas

In 2007, the Seamless Alignment and Integrated Learning Support (SAILS) program was implemented on a small scale at both Chattanooga State Community College (ChSCC) and Cleveland State Community College (CSCC) with the primary focus of implementing college remediation methods with area high school students during their senior year (ChSCC, n.d.). In cooperation with Governor Bill Haslams Drive to 55 initiative within the State of Tennessee, the SAILS program expanded in 2013 to include 13 community colleges across Tennessee and has been touted as a possible solution to reducing the number of incoming college freshman who are required to participate in college remediation (Drive to 55 Alliance, 2016). The purpose of this study was to examine the student enrollments, withdrawals, final grades, and course completions as well as the gender and ethnicity of the SAILS versus Non-SAILS students who enrolled in the Math 1530, Probability and Statistics, course at one of six rural or urban community college campus locations at one community college in East Tennessee. The intent of the study was to provide additional insight regarding whether the SAILS program produces comparable student outcomes when compared to the Non-SAILS program students and whether the SAILS program adequately prepares the high student academically for a college level math course. This study included 833 students (349 SAILS and 484 Non-SAILS) at both rural and urban campus locations enrolled in Math 1530, Probability and Statistics. In general, the SAILS students performed comparably to the Non-SAILS students academically, although the proportion of Non-SAILS students overall tended to be higher in most comparisons. Gender was found not to vary significantly within the SAILS and Non-SAILS students, however race and ethnicity was highly skewed with 95% of students being White-Non-Hispanic. This study provides information regarding the effectiveness of the SAILS program and offers insight into how high school students may perform in a college-level math course upon completion of the SAILS program.