Writing Self Placement
“The time that used to be spent testing was
replaced by time spent communicating
program standards and expectations to
students who were now invited to take
responsibility for much of this new placement
process.”
- Dan Royer and Roger Gilles, Grand Valley State
University
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Writing Self Placement:
Definition
The act of informed students enrolling into
the writing class of their choice.
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Rhodes State College
• Two-year technical college
• Applied associate’s degrees
– Arts and Sciences
– Business/Public Service
– Engineering/Information Technologies
– Nursing
– Allied Health
• 3,100 headcount
• Student average age 27
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Timed Writing Placement at
Rhodes
• Orientation – students take 45-minute
timed writing
• Teachers evaluate writing
• Students “placed”
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Problems with one-time writing
assessments
• Not representative of academic writing:
timed writing does not allow for the writing
“process”: brainstorming, drafting,
revising, editing, and proofreading.
• The writing is just a snapshot
• College English leadership (CCCC) is
against one-time assessments
• Writing placement is not only about writing
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CCCC Position Statement on
Writing Assessment (1995)
• Any individual's writing "ability" is a
sum of a variety of skills employed in a
diversity of contexts, and individual
ability fluctuates unevenly among these
varieties. Consequently, one piece of
writing--even if it is generated under the
most desirable conditions--can never
serve as an indicator of overall literacy,
particularly for high stakes decisions.
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The Beginning
Park City, Utah, 2002, Annual Conference
of Writing Program Administrators
Self placement began at Rhodes one year
later, summer 2003.
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The Process
● Letter sent to students prior to orientation
from writing faculty
●Letter describes the two course options:
English Composition
Developmental Writing
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The Letter to Students
Includes subjective criteria predictive of
success in writing classes:
●Characteristics
●Behaviors
●Attitudes (e.g., confidence)
And includes objective criteria to consider:
●Learning Outcomes
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Why Put the Students in Charge?
• After providing students with directed
questions and information on behaviors,
attitudes, and experiences needed to
make an informed decision………………
the students then make their decision.
• Even so, why let the students decide?
What’s the RATIONALE?
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Rhodes Rationale for Choosing
this Self Placement Process
● Student “agency” (remember--it’s not only
about the writing)
● Student ownership of college decisions
starting from Day One
● Decisions have consequences
● Students know what they’re “ready” for
better than teachers who take a one-time
writing assessment
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Best Reason for Implementing
Self Placement
► It’s the right thing to do ◄
– The right message (student agency)
– At the right time (Day One)
– For the right reasons (respecting that an
informed student has the capacity to make a
personal placement decision)
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Placement Results
• With self-placement, students choose
remediation at a higher percentage than
previously
• Four-year university: 33% to 22%
• Rhodes (two-year college): 26% to 33%
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Research
• Research on grades in this presentation
includes four complete years of grades
• 2001-2002 Timed writing placement
• 2003-2004 Self-placement
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2001-2004 COM 098
Grade C or Better by Placement Modality
100.00%
90.00%
80.00%
Percentage Who
Earned a C or Better
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Timed Writing
Self-Placed
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Grade Outcomes
• Students placed by timed writing into
COM-098 scored “C” or better 44.52% of
the time (over 2-year period)
• Students self-placed into COM-098 scored
“C” or better 75.51% of the time (over 2year period)
• (“C” equals “satisfactory)
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Rhodes State College
COM098 Grade C or better
Timed Writing vs. Self-Placed
100%
Self-Placed
90%
(2003-2004)
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
Timed Writing
20%
(2001-2002)
10%
0%
Fall
Winter
Spring
2001
67%
46%
41%
2002
56%
57%
44%
2003
84%
75%
79%
2004
85%
73%
71%
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Self-placed students had higher
grades
• Because of self-efficacy?
• Because taking the class was their idea?
• Because they knew what class “fit” them best?
We don’t really know why. We just know
what is. Self placed students score higher.
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Student Rationale
Why do students elect to take a precollege
class such as COM-098?
Lack of Confidence
Just because
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Student Rationale
Why do students elect to take English
Composition and skip COM-098?
Wealth of confidence (i.e., they’re
“ready,” a state of mind)
Just because
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Paradigm Shift
“The placement test now became
the placement process.”
– Robbie Pinter and Ellen Sims, Belmont
University
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Paradigm Shift in terms of
Placement Modality
• In timed writing, students were placed
strictly on writing ability as exhibited in one
timed piece of writing (passive)
• In self-placement, students are placing
themselves based on what they know
about their own confidence level, behavior,
and writing experience (active)
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More on GRADES
Timed Writing
• Students with B or better in COM-098 who
had C or better in COM-111:
61.8%
Self-Placement
• Students with B or better in COM-098 who
had C or better in COM-111:
82.6%
• “C” is “satisfactory”; “B” equals successful
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Grade Outcomes
• Students placed by timed writing into
COM-098 scored “C” or better 44.52% of
the time (over 2-year period)
• Students self-placed into COM-098 scored
“C” or better 75.51% of the time (over 2year period)
• (“C” equals “satisfactory)
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Needed follow-up
Timed Writing
• Students with B or better in COM-098 who
had less than C in COM-111: 2.5%
Self-Placement
• Though 82.6% of students scored
satisfactorily in COM-111, students with B
or better in COM-098 who had less than C
in COM-111: 9.6%
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It Works
• More self-placed students scored a
satisfactory grade of “C” (75% to 44%) in
the Developmental class
• More self-placed students with a “B” or
better in COM-098 went on to score a “C”
or better in COM-111: 82.6% vs. 61.8%.
• It’s the right thing to do—placement should
be an inclusive process
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Additional Resources on Self
Placement in Writing
• Grand Valley State University First Year
Writing web page on Directed Self
Placement, with links to various original
articles by faculty members of Grand
Valley State University and others
http://faculty.gvsu.edu/royerd/dsp/
• Council of Writing Program Administrators
http://wpacouncil.org/
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Students “Confidence”: COM-098
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I placed myself into this class because I know that I am not confident of my English.
Confidence is non-present, and hope is little.
I figured I would start at the bottom since I’m starting over I’m going to do the right
way.
I took COM-098, because I think I could use the extra boost, and confidence.
Placing myself in this particular writing class , is to relearn the fundamentals of
writing . My confidence in my writing ability is not to high.
I am not confident about my writing skills and could use all the help I can get. I figure
it would be better to start from the bottom and work my way up, rather than go in over
my head and get far behind.
I placed myself into this class because I felt that I would benefit more starting out
here than starting in COM-111. It has also been a while since my last English class
and being a first time student I felt that this would start me off at a good place for all
of my college classes.
I really enjoy writing but I need to figure out how to become even more confident in
my writing class.
I took all the easy classes in high school so I thought it would be best for me to start
at the level I am at which would be COM-098.
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Students “Just because”: COM-098
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During my senior year at Lima Senior I took a post secondary nursing course, where I
earned an STNA license and 13 credit hours towards my first year at Rhodes. In high
school, I took three advanced placement English classes, and during my senior I
decided to take an integrated English course.
I do know what I would like to do one day, and that is work for either DreamWorks or
Pixar animation studios. I love computer animation, and it seems like something I
would enjoy doing everyday on the job. Speedway isn’t the greatest and it hasn’t
been a life long dream to work there either, especially with all the “weird” people
coming in and out of those places.
I was always on honor roll and my senior year I was 4.0 student. English was one of
my better subjects.
I graduated from Shawnee High School in 1976. I have always liked school, my
grade point average then was 3.60. I did well in English, usually A’s or B’s. In 1989 I
went to Northwestern College for a degree in computers. I received an Associates
Degree in Computer Technology in 1991. Twice my grade point average was 4.0,
making the Dean’s list. I also received an Outstanding Attendance Awared. […] I
signed up for this class because it has been so long since I have gone to school, that
I thought I might need to refresh any skills I might have left.
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Students “I’m Ready”: COM-111
• I put myself in this class because a friend of mine who started her
first year here last year said that COM-098 isn’t worth taking and I
felt that I did alright in English in high school so I should do alright in
college.
• I honestly chose to place myself into this class because I hope to
spend as few semesters in school as possible and this class was
required. When push comes to shove I have never failed at
anything in my life and I know I can and will do well in this class.
That is the honest reason I came to this class. If it where not
required I would not have taken this class.
• The reason I placed my self in COM-111 is because I am capable of
meeting all the guidelines of the course. Taking a more difficult
course will make things more complicated for me and force me to
put more effort into my studies.
• I placed myself into this class because I thought I was ready for this
level.
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