Pierce College offers Statway, which is a program that allows students to complete their math requirements in two semesters.
Traditionally, students take either Math 115 or Math 125 before moving to the transfer-level math course. Statway is a two-semester path for students who are liberal arts, humanities, and social science majors who are eligible for Math 115.
But students don’t know the specifics of their second semester classes until they get the syllabus from the first semester teacher on the first day of the first semester.
“It may not be a convenient time of the day, because it might interrupt your plan of what you wanted to take,” said Wendy Hoglund, math teacher. “But it’s a gamble anyway, because what if you couldn’t get in and then you’re pissed about that.”
On the first day of the Statway A class, students are informed on their syllabi that if they pass the first class then they will be going into Statway B. They make sure to tell the students about the pre-schedule of the second class, in order for the students to leave that time set aside.
“We tell them on day one this is the class you’re going to go in the spring, and then when they build their schedule for the next semester, they already know to leave this time out,” said Howie Schwesky, adjunct assistant professor of mathematics.
Even though they know when the time and date for the second Statway class is, most students did not know that they were locked into a set schedule for the first class.
“When I registered for the first class I didn’t know at all,” said criminal justice major Bianca Cervantes.
According to Schwesky, the schedule for the first Statway class is posted on the schedule of classes, so when students register for the class they know the set time and days for the class just like any other class.
For most students finding a math class can be difficult and you are never guarantee a seat in the class unless you are preregistered but in Statway you are guaranteed a seat.
“Personally I happen to think its good because you are guaranteed a seat,” Hoglund said.
Statway gets more students through statistics, so the program has a less dropout rate because when students would not pass statistics they would just drop out of school.
“The program itself I think gives kids an advantage who aren’t math people,” Hoglund said.
