Grade/Performance Contracts, Enhanced Communication, Cooperative Learning and Student Performance in Undergraduate Organic Chemistry

This paper describes a grade/study-performance contract that was designed to increase student retention while maintaining academic performance levels in undergraduate organic chemistry. The experimental course included enhanced communication using electronic mail, and cooperative learning in addition to grade/study-performance contracts. The objective of the grade/study-performance contract was the development of learning skills with creation of a basis for unobtrusive auditing of performance. The retention rate in the experimental course was 0.82 for the first term and 0.93 for the second term. The overall retention was 0.76. This value was 3.8 times the average retention for the same sequence in the previous five years at the same institution. It was seven standard deviations away from the previous mean. The ACS Organic Chemistry Examination percentile score for the control section was 46+25 (n=117). The corresponding data for the experimental section was 53+23 (n=143). When the course was offered with the same instructor, cooperative learning, e-mail, but no grade/study-performance contract the ACS Exam percentile average 37+29. This represents a drop of 9.9 standard deviations for comparison of the means. We conclude that grade/study-performance contracts can be effective in increasing both student performance and retention in undergraduate organic chemistry.