This study examined the following question: What is the relationship, if any, between COMPASS placement scores and the student success in the first online course during the students first semester? Discriminant function analysis was used to examine the relationship. This study used existing data from new students, who took the COMPASS placement…

Objective: This article examines the effectiveness of remediation for community college students who are identified as having the lowest skills in math. Method: We use transcript data from a state community college system and take advantage of a regression discontinuity design that compares statistically identical students who are assigned to the…

Changing placement policy may help to improve developmental education student outcomes in community colleges, but there is little understanding of the impacts of these reforms. We take advantage of heterogeneous placement policy in a large urban community college district in California to compare the effects of math remediation under different…

Every year, California's community colleges identify hundreds of thousands of students as not ready for transfer-level courses in math and English. Since these courses are required to transfer to a four-year college, students deemed underprepared are placed in developmental (also known as remedial or basic-skills) courses to prepare for college…

At community colleges, student preparedness for college-level work is a significant initial barrier. Over 70% of community college students are reported to be inadequately prepared for college mathematics. Because students need to pass college-level math in order to enroll in subsequent courses required for their majors or to complete general…

The primary method of placement at Portland CC (PCC) is the Compass Placement test. For the most part, students are placed correctly, but there are cases when students feel that they have been placed too low. In such cases we use our newly created Placement Advisory Test (PAT) to help us place them appropriately. (Contains 2 figures.)

Multiple-choice tests of punctuation and usage are used throughout the United States to assess the writing skills of new community college students in order to place them in either a basic writing course or first-year composition. To determine whether using the COMPASS Writing Test (CWT) is a valid placement at a community college, student test…

A significant challenge in higher education is to narrow the educational attainment gap between academically prepared and unprepared students. To this end, developmental or remedial education is intended to improve the academic skills and knowledge of students who are unprepared for undergraduate coursework, particularly in the areas of…

Transfer of learning is defined as the ability to transfer previously learned skills into a new, similar or dissimilar situation. The transfer of learning has been a topic of debate amongst educational psychologists for decades. A variety of studies have been done to show evidence of the transfer of learning dating back to 1901. These studies have…

Today's college ACCUPLACER System's Computerized Placement Test (CPT) plays a major role for determining whether post-secondary students are ready for placement into Arithmetic, Elementary Algebra, Intermediate Algebra, or College Mathematics courses. It is widely used in most college systems in the U.S. This paper discusses some of the issues to…

Considers the use of PLATO in student assessment and placement, individualization of instruction, and curriculum evaluation at the City Colleges of Chicago. Focuses on the use of the PLATO-based versions of the Test for Adult Basic Education and the Mathematics Association of America test. (DMM)

Discusses the use of computerized placement testing at Santa Fe Community College to enable students needing only a short review of reading skills to exit early from a College Preparatory Reading Class (CPRC). Describes CPRC placement, structure, curriculum, and exit criteria; the Early Exit Reading Project; and project results. (DMM)

A description is provided of the experiences of three community colleges in implementing computerized adaptive testing to assess the entry-level skills of students. Chapter 1 provides background information on the project, which utilized The College Board's Computerized Placement Tests (CPT's), a battery of untimed, individualized tests of reading…

Developed a computerized adaptive language proficiency test for a community college in Quebec, Canada and obtained item response theory calibrations on the items from 700 to 800 administrations. Describes projected efforts to detect instances in which "cheating low" (answering incorrectly deliberately) occurs. (SLD)

This information capsule explores the effectiveness of score ranges on the Computerized Placement Test (CPT), used to assess the skills of entry-level students at Miami-Dade Community College and place first-time-in-college students in classes. Data are provided for students entering in Fall terms 1996 and 1997 showing the number of students…