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For many university students, the last formal experience in a mathematics classroom is a single semester "general education" mathematics class. Traditionally, students in this type of class often hold negative attitudes towards mathematics. Here I study a sample of students from this population (49 students at a large, urban, comprehensive public university enrolled in a "math for liberal arts majors" course) to research whether a positive experience in a freshman-level general education mathematics course correlates with a positive change in the students' attitude towards mathematics in general. I also explore which specific aspects of such a course contribute most to a positive student experience. The survey results show that while a positive experience in a freshman-level general education mathematics course correlates with positive responses in a student's attitude about several key variable components of attitude (including motivation to do mathematics, perceived usefulness of mathematics, and confidence while doing mathematics), it does not correlate with positive change. The course aspects that most correlate with a positive experience include the teacher/professor, difficulty level of the course, and workload.

In Fall 2018, remedial mathematics courses were eliminated from the 23-campus California State University system under Executive Order 1110. Incoming first-year students were placed into college credit-bearing mathematics courses with options for corequisite support. This study examines the academic outcomes for students at California State University Monterey Bay in a college credit level quantitative literacy (QL) mathematics course with optional corequisite support during the 2018-2019 academic year. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that required remediation is not necessary for success in college-level QL. The corequisite support model also has potential to support more equitable outcomes for all students. However, further study is needed to identify institutional, departmental, and pedagogical best practices for effective corequisite support in QL.