Table 2 Student Profile Comparison

Aspects Compared	Stand-alone Chem. 100	LC Chem. 100 + English Comp
Age^1	· Median age = 20.5 · Average age = 22.3	· Median age = 19.6 · Average age = 22.5
Sex^1	· 796 female (52.1%) · 733 male (47.9%)	· 73 female (46.8%) · 83 male (53.2%)
Class Standing	· 517 first-year (33.8%) · 1012 second-year (66.2%)	· 92 first-year (59.0%) · 64 second-year (41.0%)
Completion rate^2	· 1279 passed (83.5%) § 41 writing-intensive (75.9%) o 415 of 1^st year (80.3%) § 13 writing intensive (68.4%) o 864 of 2^nd year (85.2%) § 28 writing intensive (80.0%) · 140 with 0.0 grade (9.3%) · 110 withdrew (7.2%)	· 112 of 156 passed (71.8%) o 65 of 1^st year (70.7%) o 47 of 2^nd year (73.4%) · 26 with 0.0 grade (16.7%) · 18 withdrew (11.5%)
Average grade / GPA^3	· 2.93 Cumulative College GPA o 2.69 writing-intensive · 2.62 grade in Chem. 100 o 2.14 writing-intensive	· 2.61 Cumulative College GPA · 2.30 grade in LC Chem. 100

† Data provide by Shanda Diehl, Director of SFCC Institutional Research, based on a total of 1529 students in stand-alone Chem. 100 sections (Fall 2001 to Spring 2007), and a total of 156 students in five LC sections (Fall 2002 to Spring 2007). Among all stand-alone sections, two sections (56 students total) qualified as “writing intensive” Chem. 100^W. Data from these 56 students are listed as a sub-set within the stand-alone format. )

¹ The age differences are not statistically significant between the stand-alone and LC formats (χ² = 1.57, df = 1, p =.210). Though sex differences are minimal, we find the higher LC male-to-female ratio quite interesting.

² The “completion rate” of a course is defined as the percentage of students earning a decimal grade of 0.7 or higher. Decimal grades are given based on a scale of 0.0 to 4.0, with the following letter grade equivalents: 0.0 to 0.6 = F, 0.7 to 1.5 = D, 1.6 to 2.5 = C, 2.6 to 3.4 = B and 3.5 to 4.0 = A. Chi-square tests showed that the completion rate difference between 1^st (80.3%) and 2^nd (85.2%) year students in the stand-alone format is statistically significant (χ² = 5.986), but the difference between these two groups in the LC format (70.7% versus 73.4%) is not statistically significant (χ² = .145).

³ GPA stands for “grade-point average”. Cumulative College GPA is calculated by averaging grades earned in all courses at SFCC, weighed by their respective credits. The difference in cumulative GPA in a learning community and stand alone is statistically significant (t = -3.603, p < .001), as well as the difference in Chemistry 100 grades earned (t = -3.117, p = .002).