Post on 12-Jan-2017
Building better students by building better college
procedures: How community colleges could better convey incentives for school effort
Prof. James E. Rosenbaum, Pam Schuetz, Ph.D. and Amy ForanNorthwestern University
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Note. From “Community college: The unfinished revolution,” by Rosenbaum, Redline & Stephan, 2007, Issues in Science and Technology, 23, p. 50.
The “Zen-question”• If colleges give a “test,” and students don’t
see any reason to do well, have students really taken a test?
• Consider Emma. Did she take a test?
• A test’s validity depends on more than merely its test items. Validity is also a function of the social context of testing.
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Community Colleges and Placement Tests
• Students placed in lowest remedial levels of reading and math have less than a 33% and 17% chance respectively of completing the remedial sequence (Bailey, Jeong, & Cho, 2010).
• About 75% of students report not preparing for a placement test, yet almost 3/4 of those students would advise others to do so (Rosenbaum, Shuetz, & Foran, 2010).
• 2/3 of community college students do not realize their remedial courses do not count for credit (Rosenbaum, Deil-Amen, & Person, 2006).
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• What do community colleges tell incoming students about placement tests?
Community Colleges and Placement Tests
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Methods and Sample
• 9 public community colleges (4 in Illinois and 5 in California)
• Websites are the major source of information
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Findings1.The Test: What is the placement test?
– Community college websites do not advertise
placement tests.
– Several colleges barely mention the test.
– Many colleges bury information deep within their
sites.
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2.Incentives: Why is the test important?
– Community college websites do not inform
students of placement tests’ impact on degree
timetables.
– Colleges often avoid giving discouraging
information and provide vague, reassuring
descriptions of the test instead.
Findings
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3.Preparation: How can students get a better
score?
– “Summer gap”
– Community colleges do not recommend preparing
for placement tests. Some discourage it.
– Preparation materials are limited.
Findings
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4.Timing and Retest: When should students
take the test?
– Advice on when to take the test and retesting is
largely unavailable.
– Advantages to testing early:
• Fresh content
• Allows time for practice and retesting
Findings
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5.Use: How to use test results?
– Provide students with information to devise
successful plans within timetable;
– Indicate student’s level of preparation;
– Forecast additional time needed for remedial;
– Advise students in choosing first career goal.
Findings
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Conclusion• Community college webpages provide little
information about existence and importance of placement tests.
• Social context undermines the test’s validity as an indicator of students’ college readiness.
• Community colleges’ lack of clarity on placement tests likely hurts remedial results, regardless of students’ achievement.
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What can community colleges do?
• Standardize and organize the community college admissions process - emulate that of selective colleges’ admissions and testing– Admissions test– “National Decision Day”– Early Registration– College Board and ACT procedures
• Improve advice given on websites - the main source of information about community colleges
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ReferencesBailey, T., Jeong, D. W., & Cho, S. (2010). Referral, enrollment, and completion in developmental education sequences in community colleges. Economics of Education Review, 29, 255-270.
Rosenbaum, J., Deil-Amen, R., & Person, A. (2006). After admission: From college access to college success. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Rosenbaum, J., Redline, J., & Stephan, J. (2007). Community college: The unfinished revolution. Issues in Science and Technology, 23(4), 49-56.
Rosenbaum, J., Schuetz, P. & Foran, A. How students make college plans and ways schools and colleges could help. (working paper, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, July 15, 2010).
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