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. 2014 Fall;13(3):453–468. doi: 10.1187/cbe.14-03-0050

Table 7.

Changes in achievement and failure rate for SI programs in the first term of their implementationa

Failure rate Achievement
        % Change:     % Change:
Study Classroom Non-SI SI failure rate Non-SI SI achievement
Fullilove and Treisman, 1990 Calculus I 41% 7% 77 NA NA NA
Wischusen and Wischusen, 2007 Biology I 18.6% 6.9% 62.9 ∼85% ∼87% 2.4
Rath et al., 2007 Biology I 27% 15% 44.4 ∼75% ∼79% 5.3
Peterfreund et al., 2007 Biology I 27% 15% 44 ∼75% ∼79% 5.3
Minchella et al., 2002 Biology I and II 30.2% 16.9% 44 ∼75% ∼78% 4
Barlow and Villarejo, 2004 General Chemistry 44% 28% 36.3 ∼80% ∼83% 3.8
Dirks and Cunningham, 2006 Biology I NA NA NA ∼81% ∼84% 3.7

aMost achievement data were reported on the 4.0 scale, and the percentage of points earned was approximated using a conversion scale. In comparison, in the current student population, we saw a 41.3% reduction in the failure rate and a 3.2–6.3% increase in achievement, depending on which student subpopulation was the focus.