Greetings One and All:
Below is a post from the Assessment group about a podcast (Stuck at Square One) on the Accuplacer and remedial education. For some of you, the podcast will sound very, very familiar. For others, it is a good introduction into the world of college placement tests. I did listen to the entire 50 minute podcast (written portions are shorter). The student experiences, as always, were very informative and the data (with additional resources) created a relatively balanced report. Adult education is part of the picture but, alas, not named as such in the podcast. Do you find your students, like many students, placing into developmental education? What are their options?
Cynthia Zafft, Postsecondary Education Moderator
>>>Original post from Susan Finn Miller (and Adult English Language Learner group) below:
Many of us are supporting students to transfer to community college programs that use the Accuplacer, an entrance exam that is designed to assess college readiness in English and math. Emily Hanford, in an important new American Public Media report, Stuck at Square One: College Students Increasingly Caught in the Remedial Education Trap, is raising some important questions about this tool. The report is available as both audio and text.
It is well known that many students who take developmental courses never complete their programs. Hanford reports that some students are able to pass their college classes despite low scores on Accuplacer. (See this Columbia University study.). Some community colleges allow students who score lower than required on Accuplacer to enroll in regular courses while they are also taking a developmental course. This type of enrollment is called the co-requisite model.
The article includes links to some sample Accuplacer test items for those who might be interested.
What has been your experience with students taking Accuplacer? Do the issues identified in this article resonate for you and the students you serve?
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, Assessment CoP
Comments
I think it is too simple to blame a placement test and developmental education on lack of completion. As a developmental ESL teacher who is also aware of the curriculum of my colleagues in developmental English, I can say the description of the developmental English classes given in the article does not reflect the curriculum in their classes. While parts of speech instruction may take place in my ESL classes, this takes up less than one class period throughout the whole semester. The idea that developmental teachers are discouraging students is also misleading. The developmental English and Reading teachers I work with go out of their way to encourage students that they can be successful and to help them maneuver the many challenges college presents. Nearly all of us were first-generation college attendees ourselves. The Accuplacer test our English department uses only requires students to write an essay and the rubric used is weighted towards top-down skills like critical thinking and content. The test is machine graded. We do require ESL students to take a grammar test to make sure they have the bottom-up skills needed, but we also allow them to contest their placement by letting them do a writing sample for us and presenting any other evidence too which can include a student's GPA, ACT scores, other classes they have taken, time in country, or anything else they want to present. We probably move up at least 2/3 of the students who contest their placement. The idea that has arisen that developmental teachers and administrators are trying to keep students in developmental education simply isn't true at least at my community college.
I do agree that each student is different and different students may need different supports or none at all to be successful. However, in colleges where you have several thousand new students each year it can be hard to personalize especially since funding cuts have hit hard. Our counselors can meet with each student for 15 minutes only. I also agree that most students quit college for financial reasons not because they aren't prepared. Sometimes this is good news--they quit because they got a better job. But if they quit even for this reason, they are considered failures by the data base. At the community college if it takes them more than 3 years to complete their degree, they are viewed as non-completers and thus as failures in the data base. While it may be tempting to just let students try to see how they do, this can also be time-consuming and money wasting if they don't do well. As an ESL teacher, I also see too many ESL students who tell me they are just stupid when they don't do well in a class when in reality all they need to do is improve their English skills. Of course, doing that can also be hard and time-consuming. I'd be fine with free developmental education, but who is going to pay the salary of the teachers when most people don't want their taxes to go up is another unanswered question. I guess what I'm trying to say is there are no easy answers or even just one answer. It is complicated.
Dear Terry:
I appreciate the time you've taken in creating your post and your important points. My experiences with developmental educators at my small, local community college is the same -- they have gone out of their way to welcome, support, and connect students. Their course materials (at the time, a 6 credit Reading/Writing course) were very interesting and engaging. At times, they've had the flexibility to assess students in more depth and move them to another course level but not always. And, as you mention, financial resources (the student's and the institution's) narrow the possibilities.
I would like to examine the role of the college placement test some more, and better understand additional options available to broaden entry assessment to make it more useful to students and faculty. Just pulling it together now. Any and all suggestions welcome.
Cynthia