One System…One Mission
Florida’s Postsecondary
Education Readiness Test
John Hughes and Matthew Schultz
College Placement Testing in Florida
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Statutorily required placement testing
Acceptable instruments defined in rule
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SAT, ACT, Accuplacer, and PERT
Students who do not meet the scores placed
in developmental education
Required developmental education
coursework must be completed before
students may enroll in entry-level college
credit courses
2
From Accuplacer to PERT
American Diploma Project
Readiness Competencies
Contract Expiration
Faculty Involvement
McCann’s Customized Solution
Florida’s postsecondary Education Readiness Test
(PERT)
Faculty Involvement
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Over 100 faculty from five school districts, two nonpublic colleges, nine universities and 24 colleges
Identified Florida’s Postsecondary Readiness
Competencies
Prioritized the readiness competencies in terms of
determining a student’s readiness for college-level
coursework
Helped develop the PERT blueprints based on the
prioritized list of readiness competencies
Reviewed test items to ensure they are aligned to the
competencies and to ensure accuracy and clarity
Took the test “as a student” to ensure the test is
functioning as expected
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Postsecondary Readiness
Competencies
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PERT is aligned to Florida’s Postsecondary
Readiness Competencies (PRCs)
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PRCs in reading, writing and mathematics
Prioritized list of competencies for success in
initial college credit courses
True assessment of what students need to know
before enrolling in introductory courses
Follow up diagnostics that identify which
competencies are not met for the purposes of
remediation
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Blueprint Development
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Series of meetings with stake holders from
department and colleges
PRC’s for each content area reviewed and
prioritized by SME’s
Critical PRC’s identified and weighted
Blueprints developed to reflect most critical
PRC’s for success
Test Design Process
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PRC’s and Blueprints used to drive content
development
College Faculty developed content exemplars
McCann developed item banks of content
aligned specifically to PRC’s
College Faculty reviewed all content and
approved alignment
DOE, Florida Colleges and McCann
collaborated on pilot to test content
Test Development Process
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Pilot included all colleges and most campuses
900+ items administered to samples of
student test takers
Online platform used to deliver content
Psychometric review of item performance
Item calibrations (3 parameter IRT)
completed and CAT developed
PERT launched operationally Fall 2010
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Includes ongoing field testing of content
Diagnostic Competencies
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Diagnostic exams are available for students
not meeting the cut-scores
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Lower and upper level in reading, writing and
mathematics
Based on statewide common course descriptions
Prioritized list of competencies for success in
given course
No passing/failing score, just results by
competency
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PERT Components
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PERT System Components
 Placement Tests (3 sub-tests)
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Identifies appropriate course placement
(developmental education through college credit)
Reading
 Writing
 Mathematics
Diagnostic Tests
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Lower and upper level for each subject
Based on separate competencies for exiting remedial
courses
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PERT Test Design
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30 questions per placement subtest
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25 operational items will be the basis of the
student’s placement score
5 field test items to continually enhance the
operational test bank
Each test item is aligned with a PRC per the
test blueprint
All items have been approved and aligned by
Florida faculty
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PERT Test Formats
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PERT Placement is delivered using a CAT
engine
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Draws on item banks of 200+ items per content
area
Item banks constantly being expanded
PERT Diagnostics are linear
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Content delivered collaboratively between Florida
College Faculty and McCann
PERT Interim Cut Score Setting
Data
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Pilot data
Data reflecting current student enrollment – first course, first
year of enrollment
Data reflecting CPT/Accuplacer scores
Target
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Establish PERT cut scores/ranges that result in course
placement comparable to current enrollment numbers
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Two ranges for developmental education – lower
and upper
One score for entry level college credit
Additional score for MAC 1105 College Algebra
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Cut Scores and Expected
Placement
Math Placement Level
3-Year Average Percent of
Students
0.5%
6.1%
13.9%
40.6%
38.9%
Advanced Math
College Algebra or Equiv
Intermediate Algebra
Upper Level Dev Ed
Lower Level Dev Ed
Cut Score
Range
NA
123-150
113-122
96-112
50-95
Expected Percent at
Placement
7.1%
14.1%
41.9%
36.9%
Reading Placement Level
3-Year Average Percent
of Students
Cut Score
Range
Expected Percent at
Placement
College Ready (ENC 1101)
40.5%
104-150
42.0%
Upper Level Dev Ed
46.3%
84-103
45.1%
Lower Level Dev Ed
13.2%
50-83
12.9%
Writing Placement Level
3-Year Average Percent
of Students
54.9%
20.4%
24.7%
Cut Score
Range
99-150
90-98
50-89
Expected Percent at
Placement
55.3%
21.5%
23.2%
College Ready (ENC 1101)
Upper Level Dev Ed
Lower Level Dev Ed
Contact Information
John Hughes
Matthew Schultz
Associate Vice Chancellor
Director Psychometric Services
Division of Florida Colleges McCann Associates
Florida Department of
Education
mschultz@mccanntesting.com
John.hughes@fldoe.org