System Placement Work Group Tentative Recommendations
February 2016
1. Endorse and share general system statement about a “good practice”
approach to college-level placement assessment.
2. Compile and distribute information resources supporting colleges in
their efforts to implement a multiple measures approach.
a. transcript grids
b. college approaches to writing and reading placement assessment
c. Smarter Balanced placement agreement implementation
d. data on placement reciprocity activity
3. Provide opportunities for focused discussions about available placement
assessment options and support colleges if there’s interest in consortium
agreements for specific tools.
a. webinar series
b. follow-up on Directed Self-Placement
c. data approach to assessing placement assessment
Questions? Contact Bill Moore, SBCTC, bmoore@sbctc.edu, 360-704-4346
Draft of General Statement
Colleges should engage students in an educational and holistic placement assessment
process that provides the student and the college with the information needed to make
informed decisions about course placement. The outcomes of the placement assessment
process should contribute to campus-wide student success initiatives and be used to
improve student course completion and overall academic success. The process should
ensure that students understand the implications of course placement for their degree
length, relevance, and cost, and that students have a variety of ways to show readiness for
courses.
Placement assessment measures and processes should represent a collaboration between
Instruction, Student Services, and placement center staff. The specific processes for math
and English may be different, but for both areas, placement assessment should
incorporate student goals and prior experience into the process, with students playing an
active role in the outcome. Ultimately, placement should be incorporated into a
comprehensive intake advising and first quarter experience.
Overall the process should include, but is not limited to, the following:
1. Comprehensive intake advising and/or orientation processes that contextualize
assessment and placement to students’ educational pathway and the expectations of
course curriculum. Students should be informed about the implications of underor over-placement.
2. Multiple measures (examples: directed self-placement, reciprocity of placement,
options for appeal, transcript evaluations, credit for prior learning, standardized
tests).
3. When students do take a placement test, provide opportunities to prepare that could
include but are not limited to computer based activities, workshops, web-based
tools, further diagnostic testing, etc.
Adapted from the February 2012
Statewide Standardized Placement Assessment and Cut Scores work group
(part of the Washington CTC System Efficiency & Effectiveness initiative)
(for more details see http://precollegeeducation.wikispaces.com/)