Please review the guidelines and respond to the questions.
Guidelines - Matriculation Assessment Q&A for California Community Colleges - March 2005
7. Can we establish an academic floor for our English and Math curricula?
Answer: Two concerns are raised in this question. First, assessment results cannot be used to determine admission into a California public community college. Admission and assessment are two distinct functions, and the decision to admit a student into a community college cannot be influenced by the assessment of the student's skills or preparation. Second, once a student has been admitted, assessment results may show a need for the strengthening of a student's basic skills. In that case, the district is required to provide reasonable numbers of courses in pre-collegiate basic skills in reading, written expression, and mathematics for students who objective is to become fully prepared to enroll in courses for which those skills are prerequisites. This means that even though a prerequisite system may be in place, when a student is in need of pre-collegiate basic skills, entry level courses without prerequisites must be available.
How do we meet these guidelines for math, English and reading? Do we need credit, non-credit courses and what about distance- education. How do we determine if our efforts are adequate?
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3 comments:
First, I would like to ask the teachers of the Basic Skills courses if they feel the majority of their students are placed correctly at admission, a little like Goldilocks, too high, too low or just right. Clearly there are students whose basic skills in language are in need of improvement so the non-credit courses can raise people to competitive levels at the low end, then they can progress to transfer level if that is their desire. In math, I do not know what is less than arithmetic. I have no doubt the faculty is capable of making correct assessments, but the question of documenting the student outcomes in a way that satisfies the standards is something that may need research and input from the SLO Committee.
We actually ask our teachers about placement. I will be conducting another validation study next fall. These are the items I collect:
1. Ask the teacher if the student is placed correctly and likely to succeed.
2. Ask the student if they think they are placed correctly and likely to succeed.
3. Ask the student during placement where they think they should be placed.
4. Review grades and success/failures based upon placement.
From my experience, the placement of students in basic skills English is "just right." Occasionally I get a student who is too high or two low, but these instances are exceptions. The validation studies conducted by the Learning Skill Center are valuable.
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