A given student that begins the traditional statistics course track at Diablo Valley College only has a 22 percent chance of successfully completing it, according to DVC Councilor Raine Dougan.

Enter Statway, a program for students who are not STEM majors or business majors who have passed Math-75 that completes general education requirements. With Statway, qualified students are able to complete their mathematics requirements in just two semesters with a success rate of 80 percent, nearly quadruple that of the traditional math track.

One of the program’s success stories is Elizabeth Stewart, who is getting an A in the Statway course after having to repeat Algebra multiple times. Stewart says what made the difference was the program’s emphasis on “group work and words, not numbers; it’s easier.”

Charles Witherington, a geography major who has just received acceptance to UC Berkeley, said, “the approach is so different and intuitive. They don’t assume you have a strong math background, it’s more step by step.” Witherington also noted that he was missing three semesters worth of prerequisites, and the accelerated pace of the program was invaluable to his transferring in a timely manner.

Yet in spite of the program being four times as successful and taking a semester less to finish, students continue to largely favor enrolling in the traditional math track.

Statway professor Anna Sohi attributes the lacking enrollment to both the newness of the program and the consequent lack of awareness of the program by the student body.

As qualified students become more aware of Statway, Sohi hopes that enrollment in this program will increase, and that more students will consequently succeed in completing their math requirements.