IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/reihed/v66y2025i6d10.1007_s11162-025-09850-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Disentangle the Curriculum and Structural Effects of Math Pathway Reforms: Evidence from Maryland Community College System

Author

Listed:
  • Florence Xiaotao Ran

    (University of Delaware)

  • Jesse Eze

    (University of Delaware)

  • Yuxin Lin

    (Maryland Higher Education Commission)

Abstract

This study evaluates the impact of Maryland's Mathematics Reform Initiative (MMRI), which sought to improve student success in developmental and college-level math through comprehensive curriculum and structural reforms. Launched in 2015, the MMRI developed and implemented non-algebra math pathways tailored to students’ chosen program of study. Using administrative data of Maryland community colleges from 2014 to 2019, we adopted a difference-in-differences approach to assess the effects of MMRI and how various reform components contributed to the overall outcomes. Our findings indicate that MMRI resulted in a 7-percentage-point increase in developmental math completion by the end of the first year. Although MMRI overall did not lead to a significant increase in gateway math completion rates, colleges that combined corequisite support and multiple measures placement with curriculum changes experienced a 4-percentage-point rise in first-year gateway math completion. We found no significant changes in STEM major selection, enrollment persistence, or transfer rates within two years of the reform. These results suggest that aligning math pathways with students' academic programs—while simultaneously addressing structural barriers—can support greater progression in college-level mathematics; however, broader systemic support is likely required to meaningfully improve enrollment persistence and degree completion.

Suggested Citation

  • Florence Xiaotao Ran & Jesse Eze & Yuxin Lin, 2025. "Disentangle the Curriculum and Structural Effects of Math Pathway Reforms: Evidence from Maryland Community College System," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 66(6), pages 1-33, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:66:y:2025:i:6:d:10.1007_s11162-025-09850-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s11162-025-09850-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11162-025-09850-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11162-025-09850-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Akiva Yonah Meiselman & Lauren Schudde, 2022. "The Impact of Corequisite Math on Community College Student Outcomes: Evidence from Texas," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 17(4), pages 719-744, Fall.
    2. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    3. Bailey, Thomas & Jeong, Dong Wook & Cho, Sung-Woo, 2010. "Referral, enrollment, and completion in developmental education sequences in community colleges," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 255-270, April.
    4. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    5. Lauren Schudde & Kamil Q. Brown & Catherine Ramirez, 2025. "Framing Corequisite Reform: Examining Staff Perceptions and Buy-in of a Statewide Dev-ed Reform Mandate," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 96(2), pages 279-305, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    2. Federica Alfani & Vasco Molini & Giacomo Pallante & Alessandro PalmaGran, 2024. "Job displacement and reallocation failure. Evidence from climate shocks in Morocco," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 51(1), pages 1-31.
    3. Cocco, Valentin & Chakir, Raja & Mouysset, Lauriane, 2025. "Guilty or scapegoat? Land consolidation and hedgerow decline," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    4. Guy Lacroix & Pierre-Carl Michaud, 2024. "Tax Incentives and Older Workers: Evidence from Canada," CIRANO Working Papers 2024s-06, CIRANO.
    5. Luo, Lianfa & Cheng, Zhiming & Ye, Qingqing & Cheng, Yanjun & Smyth, Russell & Yang, Zhiqing & Zhang, Le, 2024. "Nonmonetary awards and innovation: Evidence from winning China's Top Brand Contest," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Xu, Guangyu & Chen, Huang, 2025. "Inclusive growth dilemma: Weighing the pros and cons of land market reform," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    7. Hashida, Yukiko & Dundas, Steven J., 2023. "The effects of a voluntary property buyout and acquisition program on coastal housing markets: Evidence from New York," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    8. Wu, Libo & Zhou, Yang, 2025. "Social norms and energy conservation in China," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    9. Aggarwal, Khushboo & Barua, Rashmi & Vidal-Fernandez, Marian, 2024. "Still Waters Run Deep: Groundwater Contamination and Education Outcomes in India," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    10. Brown, David P. & Muehlenbachs, Lucija, 2024. "The value of electricity reliability: Evidence from battery adoption," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    11. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Neeraj Kaushal & Ashley N. Muchow, 2021. "Timing of social distancing policies and COVID-19 mortality: county-level evidence from the U.S," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 1445-1472, October.
    12. Jaraitė, Jūratė & Kurtyka, Oliwia & Ollivier, Hélène, 2022. "Take a ride on the (not so) green side: How do CDM projects affect Indian manufacturing firms’ environmental performance?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    13. Mélanie Gittard & Irène Hu, 2024. "MiningLeaks Water Pollution and Child Mortality in Africa," PSE Working Papers halshs-04685390, HAL.
    14. Costa-Font, Joan & Jiménez-Martín, Sergi & Vilaplana-Prieto, Cristina, 2022. "Do Public Caregiving Subsidies and Supports affect the Provision of Care and Transfers?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    15. Ta, Chi L., 2024. "Do conservation contests work? An analysis of a large-scale energy competitive rebate program," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    16. Jonathan A. Parker & Jake Schild & Laura Erhard & David S. Johnson, 2021. "Household Spending Responses to the Economic Impact Payments of 2020: Evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey," Economic Working Papers 544, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    17. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Churchill, Brandyn F. & Marcus, Michelle, 2023. "Bad lighting: Effects of youth indoor tanning prohibitions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    18. Ashesh Rambachan & Jonathan Roth, 2020. "Design-Based Uncertainty for Quasi-Experiments," Papers 2008.00602, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2025.
    19. Cotti, Chad & Courtemanche, Charles & Maclean, Joanna Catherine & Nesson, Erik & Pesko, Michael F. & Tefft, Nathan W., 2022. "The effects of e-cigarette taxes on e-cigarette prices and tobacco product sales: Evidence from retail panel data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    20. Dong, Zhanyu & Cai, Jiayi & Li, Xuchao & Luan, Mengna, 2025. "Firm-level impacts and recovery dynamics following a public health crisis: Lessons from China’s SARS experience," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:66:y:2025:i:6:d:10.1007_s11162-025-09850-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.