Group+1+-+Assessment,+placement+and+diagnostics

ABE Division || Spokane IEL ||
 * GROUP 1 - Assessment, placement and diagnostics **
 * Name || Position || College ||
 * Dorna Bullpitt || VP Instruction || SPSCC ||
 * David Chalif || Dean, Math || Edmonds ||
 * Rhonda Coats || Vice President for Student Services || South Puget Sound ||
 * Marty Cooksey || Math Coordinator || Renton Technical College ||
 * Leslie Eglin || Basic Skills || Yakima Valley CC ||
 * Jamie Fouty || Institutional Research || Walla Walla ||
 * Rebecca Goss || Assessment Center Manager || Spokane Community College ||
 * Matt Groshong || Dean of Student Success || Bellevue College ||
 * Wendy Hall || Institutional Research || Lower Columbia ||
 * Kathleen Hathaway || Faculty || Clover Park TC ||
 * Heather Keast || Developmental Writing || Spokane Falls CC ||
 * Peggy Moe || Dean, General & Developmental Education || Renton Technical College ||
 * Joe Montgomery || Dean for Institutional Effectiveness || Columbia Basin ||
 * Bill Moore || Policy Assoc, Assessmt, Tchg & Lrng || SBCTC ||
 * Noreen Light || Fac Dev Coord, Assessmt, Tchg & Lrng || SBCTC ||
 * Regina Reed || Testing Director || Walla Walla ||
 * Pam Reising || Math || Green River ||
 * Sam Salvatori || Counselor || Spokane IEL ||
 * Lora Senf || Acting Assistant Dean for ABE || Spokane IEL ||
 * Geri Swope || Dean of Instruction
 * Geri Swope || Dean of Instruction
 * Mike Towey || Coordinating Committee Instruction Workgroup || Tacoma CC ||
 * Jeff Wagnitz || VP Instruction || Highline CC ||
 * Kim Ward || Associate Dean, ABE/ESL || Tacoma CC ||
 * Tom McCollow || Math faculty || Pierce, Puyallup ||

=="Multiple Measures" meeting agenda and notes (December, 2011), planning follow-up activities for remainder of 2011-12 in order to address the final set of system recommendations approved by WACTCand summarized in the December 2011 System Efficiencies report to the Legislature (see "December report" link on that page):==

**Comments on key elements of overall draft proposal (May 2011) from follow-up meeting of Group 1 members (May 25, 2011):**




** Task A -Describe current evidence-based assessment tools/practices that show successful assessment, diagnosis and placement of students. **
** Define “successful” placement: Tentative definition “Assessment tools and methods that lead to the highest possible placement levels (i.e., minimize dev-ed) based on accurate, holistic assessment of student capability” **

** Evaluate: ** ** • Alignment of assessment tools to curricular best-practices (e.g., acceleration, “bridging” models like I-BEST) ** ** • Instrument options (COMPASS, Accuplacer, open source, homegrown) ** ** • Missing evaluation elements (e.g., personal attributes) ** ** • Alternate methods (e.g., transcript review, self-placement) ** ** Joe*, Jamie, Bill, Peggy, David, Regina, Sam, Bill, Marty, Leslie, Geri, Matt, Steve **

Assessment Tools_Practices (wiki page for Task A subgroup)
=== **Here's Joe Montgomery's helpful visual around a suggested entry assessment/placement process that reflects a number of the key features and principles we've been discussing; reactions and comments are welcomed and encouraged!** ===

== Here's another way to look at some of the options we might consider, including describing the overall placement process in conjunction with an approach to thinking about precollege education as differentiated "levels of intervention": ==

== ** Task B - Identify evidence-based best practices and tools regarding services that support students in the assessment and placement stages of education. The practices and tools should be holistic and student outcome-driven. ** == ** Evaluate best practices around techniques such as: **

** • Student pre-preparation for assessment (i.e., understanding the assessment process, its significance, and its format beforehand) ** ** • Refresher strategies that help students recall key skills and place higher ** ** • Humane and effective practices around post-test interpretation and next-step advice for student assessment-completers **

** Wendy*, Kim, Rebecca, Regina, Heather **
=== **This "promising practices" document started as a compilation of resources identified by the Task B subgroup; I've been expanding the listings to incorporate the various innovations being submitted by colleges around the system as part of the larger ATC data-gathering effort (updated 6/7/11):** ===


 * Hi folks, here are some links to promising practices on test prep. ~Kim **


 * Here is the link to Guilford Technical College. [] They have done some interesting work around compass test preparation. They also have some nice marketing materials on this site for their prep workshops.


 * Bellingham Technical College has also had some success with an Accuplacer Prep Workshop []. They offer a "study skills" class to prepare folks for the placement test and have tracked the success. Students who attend the required 24 hours of the prep course demonstrated an average gain of 26 points on the assessment.

= =
 * El Paso Community College did some work around test preparation as one of their Achieving the Dream strategies. Their program is called PREP (Pretesting Retesting Educational Program) [] Slide #7 on this PP shows some of their outcomes. []

Here are some links to info from the Getting Past Go web site (Wendy): === ** Standardization/High School/K-12 issues ** [|**http://gettingpastgo.org/blog/2010/05/24/the-coexistence-of-consistency-and-creativity-in-remedial-education-reform/**] This is a 30,000 foot level article on standardization of developmental education. Not much detailed information. [|**http://gettingpastgo.org/blog/2011/01/18/common-core-value-getting-the-most-of-the-standards/**] This includes a brief description of the Common Core State Standards Initiative and includes a link which allows you to view a map of which states have adopted the standards (Washington has not, but is in the distinct minority). There is also a link to the Florida Postsecondary Education Readiness Test website. On that website (Appendix A), there is “A Guide to Developing a Customized Placement Test.” This test has replaced Accuplacer in Florida.

** Placement and instructional strategies ** [|**http://gettingpastgo.org/should-policy-clearly-articulate-the-need-for-differentiated-delivery-models-for-students-depending-on-their-level-of-developmental-placement/**] This article includes a list of key issues in placement and reduction of time spent in remedial education. There are specific examples of models and strategies for students placing at different levels (just below college level, 1-2 levels below college level, and 3 or more levels below college level). The example listed for 3 or more levels below college level is I-BEST.

[|**http://gettingpastgo.org/blog/2011/03/10/creating-plans-that-become-policies-the-role-of-the-legislature-in-instructional-strategies/**] Blog post about legislation in Texas related to a statewide effort to increase the effectiveness of placement and remedial education.

** Task C - Identify federal, state, and local policy and regulation considerations regarding assessment, diagnosis, and placement of students. **
** Evaluate and make recommendations around policy matters such as: **

** • Regional and statewide variations in college-readiness cut-off scores ** ** • Disparate practices among student sub-populations (ABE/ESL, WorkFirst, etc.) ** ** • Mandatory versus recommended placement **

**Jeff*, Rhonda, Dorna, Michelle(?)** == The //Getting Past Go// web site has compiled quite a few resources and links related to [|state and system policies around dev ed placement assessment] —it’s searchable and has some good information, but does require a bit of time to go through it…  ==