Developmental math students vary widely in age and performance. Which age group does the best? The chart shown illustrates the results of a study of developmental math courses taken during the Spring 2000 semester.
Average GPA’s are shown for the different age groups, as well as what percent of the developmental math population each group represents. Notice that our senior students, the smallest age group, outperformed all other age groups! Their average GPA corresponds to a strong B average in developmental math. The 20-24 year olds, by far our largest group making up almost 43% of developmental math students, had the lowest developmental math grades with an average GPA near 1.5. Some of the factors that may be at work in contributing to differences in the various groups include: (1) level of maturity and responsibility, (2) length of time from prior math course, and (3) amount of time available for study and assignments.