The table below provides comparisons between reform and traditional sections over a two-year period. No only does this table contain passing rates in college algebra, it also shows passing rates for students in the subsequent math courses.

Passing rates are not the only evidence of success, according to the reformers. Instructors report that there is anecdotal evidence of an improvement in students' experiences--students seem to enjoy the course more:

I think that we may not be able to quantify success with passing rates alone. But in discussing with students, asking them to consider their overall experience, and reading some of the general comments, I do find a number of them who say it was a worthwhile course. Maybe they actually enjoyed it. We don't really have data that we could use to compare [comments about the reformed course] with those of the traditional course. (Linda Becerra, Faculty)

If students enjoy being in this course, so do instructors. Before reform, the classroom atmosphere was less than enticing for an instructor. Attendance was low, as were interest and participation. An instructor explains:

I can only give you anecdotal evidence, but the ambiance in the classroom is totally different compared to before. The biggest thing that I've enjoyed about it is when you go into the classroom, you're not dreading going. You're not thinking, How many are going to show up today? How many are going to be paying attention? Are they going to ask any questions? Am I going to get people to ask any questions? It's just a much different classroom atmosphere than before. (Bill Waller, Faculty)

Nevertheless, not all the faculty members in the department share the reformers' enthusiasm about the success of this reformed algebra course. Many question the adequacy of course content and the students' ability to use their algebra skills proficiently, a charge that is answered by one reformer as follows:

We did reduce the content in designing our unified course. But in tracking the students in later courses, we haven't found any noticeable difference in performance between those who attended the traditional course and those who went through our unified section. A lot of the skills that you teach in traditional college algebra, you treat them so superficially that you wind up re-teaching them anyway in later courses. So the students in the traditional sections really didn't have much of an advantage because they didn't remember that one specialized skill they had been taught for one lecture. (Bill Waller, Faculty)

Some faculty also imply that there is a certain amount of grade inflation in the reformed course, that students are graded on the basis of activities that have nothing to do with college algebra. One reformer responds to this allegation by bringing attention to the data shown in the table above:

When you're teaching the college algebra course here, you can expect that the average number of times that a student in your class has taken the course is more than one, and that's on average. I've had a lot of students who have been able to pass my reformed class, but weren't able to pass the traditional course. A lot of people will say, "Well, there you go; it's too easy. They shouldn't be passing." But in tracking these students, we find that they seem to do okay, not any worse than other students in later courses. I think to at least be successful once in a college math course is important for them. (Bill Waller, Faculty)

There is also skepticism on the part of some faculty regarding the validity of the performance data (see table above), given that students enrolling in both the reformed and traditional sections are not selected at random (the sections that rely heavily on computers are so noted in the sign-up schedule). However, the reformers point out that at UHD the dominant factors in class selection are course availability and section time, not the methods used to teach content. Said one reformer:

People always question the validity of those statistics because students self-select the section they want to enroll in. The sections are identified in the schedule, so they know which ones are going to be using computers. How much does that affect our outcomes? I don't know. But I strongly believe most students are selecting classes based on availability and their schedules. I don't think that we're having a lot of people who are gravitating toward the tech sections just because they want to be in that section. (Bill Waller, Faculty)

While some questions about college algebra reform exist within the department, we should note that in many respects the objections of faculty are tempered by the fact that at UHD they do not have to adopt these reforms. At UHD, because there is no institutional push to adopt reforms department- or campus-wide, being a reformer is not very threatening to non-reforming colleagues.