Pass rates up for online classes at San Jose State

Students who took online classes in a summer program at San Jose State University performed better than those who took the same online classes in the spring, a result that is likely to provide a boost to a highly touted but problem-plagued collaboration between the campus and an online provider.

83% of summer students in elementary statistics earned a C or better compared with 50.5% of those in the spring; and 72.6% of summer college algebra students made the grade compared with 25.4% of those in the spring. The pass rates for remedial math improved somewhat, reaching nearly 30% for summer students compared with 24% for those in the spring. Students in two new summer classes also fared well, with 67% earning a C or better in general psychology and 70% achieving that level in computer programming. Officials said they were encouraged by the developments, especially after the disappointing spring results raised a host of critical questions about the highly watched project with Udacity, a Mountain View-based online course provider. Each of the for-credit classes cost $150 with no state or federal support.