Hi Team
I reviewed the text What Works: Research-Based Best Practices in Dev. Ed. to see what comments were made regarding placement.
This meta-analysis shows that, for developmental students at least, mandatory assessment and placement contribute to student success. (Though he notes that poor instruction/ drill 'n kill in dev ed can negate the benefits of mandatory placement.)
He notes that "the most common placement tests used by community colleges are the ASSET and the Compass produced by ACT, and the Computerized Placement Test produced by the Education Testing Services."
He does briefly discuss testing measures, saying "Others are reluctant to require students to participate in development education because they believe that assessment test results are not completely accurate. This . . . is unsupported by any research. There is, of course, a range of measurement error with any placement instrument. But for most of the scientifically developed and better-validated instruments, this error range is around 5%. Roueche and Roueche (1999) note that placements tests 'may not be accurate without a doublt, (but) the more common tests are valid indicators that students have a problem.' "
Boylan gives the following tips:
*Faculty and staff involved should take whatever placement tests the college uses, to become familiar with them.
*Advisors should be required to read the placement instruments' manual so that they understand what the scores mean.
*Even if testing is "mandatory," some students will "slip through the cracks."
*Students should be familiarized with how to take the test, so placement is not just based on test-taking skill.
*Students should be allowed to 'challenge' the assessment result, since no instrument is 100% accurate for students. This also helps students feel that they are being treated fairly.
So he does not come out and recommend one test over another test. He does go on to argue for systematic program evaluation, though not specifically for placement test accuracy.
Anyway, I thought I'd share the key points from this resource. There is also the LSCHE website (Learning Centers) that Frank Christ referred to in a presentation last summer. It has lots of handy resources, so I will check that out in case anything is helpful for our project.
Cheers
Christine Helfers
