College-Level Examination Program
CSU General Education Conference
May 3, 2010
Marc Singer, Associate Director, CLEP
Pam Kerouac, Senior Assessment Manager, CLEP
CLEP Facts
• 34 introductory college-level examinations in:
Foreign Languages, Science, Mathematics, Business,
Composition & Literature, History & Social Sciences
• About seven million exams administered since 1967
• 2,900 colleges grant credit; 1,600 colleges administer CLEP
• 133,000+ National exams administered in 2008–09
• 73,000+ exams administered to military service members in
2008–09
Who Takes CLEP?
 Adults returning to college
 Military service members and
veterans
 Students who are fluent in
Spanish, French, or German
 Students at risk for stopping out
 Students with high SAT or ACT
scores
 Juniors or seniors who have not
met lower-division requirements
 Transfer students
 International students
 Students seeking credentials for
teaching certification, nursing
Age Distribution of Test Takers
National Candidates, 2008-09
CLEP General Exams
• Four exams:
– Social Sciences and History
– Humanities
– Natural Sciences
– College Mathematics
• English Composition to retire as of July 1
Current Exam Content
Humanities:
– “Because the exam is very broad in its coverage, it is unlikely that any
one person will be well informed about all the fields it covers. The
exam contains approximately 140 questions to be answered in 90
minutes.”
50% Literature:
– 10% Drama; 10-15% Poetry; 15-20% Fiction; 10% Nonfiction (including
philosophy)
50% The Arts
– 20% Visual arts: painting, sculpture, etc.; 5% Visual arts: architecture;
15% Performing arts: music; 10% Performing arts: film, dance, etc.
Current Exam Content
Social Sciences and History:
– “The primary objective of the exam is to give candidates the
opportunity to demonstrate that they possess the level of knowledge
and understanding expected of college students who meet a
distribution or general education requirement in the social
sciences/history areas.”
40% History (including US, World, and Western Civ)
13% Government/Political Science
11% Geography
10% Economics
10% Psychology
10% Sociology
6% Anthropology
From CLEP Social Sciences & History
46. The cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly who played a major role
in turning public sentiment against New York City’s Boss
Tweed was
a. Grant Wood
b. Winslow Homer
c. Matt Morgan
d. Thomas Nast
e. Norman Rockwell
Some efforts underway…
•
Social Sciences and History interdisciplinary passages.
•
College Mathematics:
–
Financial Mathematics
• Percents, percent change, applications of percent in financial
mathematics.
• Interest: simple, compound, and continuous interest; effective
interest rates (APR).
• Present value, future value.
• Markups, discounts, taxes, profit and loss
• Applications.
CLEP General Examination Trends
Combined National & Military Volumes, 2008-09
Exam Title
2005-2006
2006-2007
2007-2008
Social Sciences &
History
6772
5905
5558
5083
Humanities
9078
8355
8170
7509
Natural Sciences
7904
7317
6836
6127
13694
13459
13895
13816
College
Mathematics
2008-2009
CLEP General Exams Advisory Panel
Purpose:
• to determine whether there is a role for these exams in the
college curriculum
• to establish the relationship between General Exams and
Subject Exams
• to explore options for making these exams more relevant
tools for colleges and for students.
CLEP General Exams Advisory Panel
• Participants: People with experience with
– Integrative/interdisciplinary studies
– General and Liberal education
– Critical thinking studies
– Linking the curriculum to real world concerns
– Civic education and “literacy”
– Assessment
• Representatives from NYU, CSU, College Board, University of
Texas, James Madison University, Otterbein College, AAC&U,
US Military Academy, more
Anticipated Next Steps
Next Steps:
• After Panel meets and draws up its findings, hand off to
College Board’s Academic Advisory Committees (contentspecific)
• AACs to review Panel’s work and make exam-specific
recommendations: methods, content
• Reconstitute standing test development committees, hand off
work to them
Challenges
I.
CLEP exams are designed to give students college credit.
I.
II.
II.
CLEP exams are standardized tests.
I.
II.
III.
III.
What would the college course equivalent be for these exams?
Who at the college could evaluate the exams to determine credit
equivalencies?
Could one size fit all? Is there a standard sense of general ed on
which many could agree?
What kinds of questions could we ask on such an exam? What
standards would we set for “passing”?
How would we score these exams?
Most CLEP exams are designed to be introductory level.
Our Questions
• The present state of general education. In what direction is it heading?
• CLEP's mission: Can it include assessment of general education?
• Can we build a bridge between the two?
• Can general ed be assessed through standardized assessments? What
innovations will we need to make this happen?
• Should we focus on skills, subject knowledge, or some intersection?
• What should the relationship be between the general exams and our
subject-specific exams?
• What sort of credit should colleges grant for such exams?
• How do we take these high-level ideas and put them into practice?
More Questions
•
What does “literacy” mean in this context anyway?
•
How does a multiple-choice question measure critical thinking skills?
•
What other initiatives are under way that might have some sort of impact on these general exams?
•
What do the statisticians and psychometricians have to say about all this?
•
How often do the exams get revisited? Will we have to do this all over again?
•
Why is this presentation starting to look like an eye chart?
•
How many questions are there on a CLEP exam?
•
Why are there so many questions?
•
Do you ask any questions about who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?
•
What if a student gets a 49 on an exam instead of 50? Are they still smart?
•
What is the difference between CLEP and AP?
•
What’s a henway?
•
Why doesn’t CLEP offer an exam in Tooth Morphology anymore?
•
Why would someone get on a plane from New Jersey to talk about this with educators in California?
•
How do we get in touch if we have more ideas after the session is over?
•
Are you recording this presentation?