1. Changes in placement in the California Community Colleges John J. Hetts Senior Director of Data Science, CalPASS Plus/Educational Results Partnership Former Director of Institutional Research, Long Beach City College jhetts@edresults.orgjhetts@edresults.org @jjhetts #LetIcarusFly http://bit.ly/MMAPINN

2. Current Placement Practice in CA  113 community colleges using broad variety of tests –Accuplacer, COMPASS, MDTP, locally developed, and more –Some adaptive, some a collection of fixed tests at different levels  Challenges –Lack of consistency across colleges, even within districts –Dissatisfaction with accuracy –Students do not realize impact of assessment –Underutilization of multiple measures (despite legal requirements)

3. Reality of assessment and placement

5. Rebuilding Community College Assessment: The Common Assessment System  Centralized data platform (common, portable assessment)  Assessment preparation resources  Map of student competencies  Built in availability of multiple measures

6. Importance of Common Assessment System rather than just a Common Assessment Test  Increasing evidence of far stronger predictive utility of high school achievement for predicting performance in transfer-level courses –Nationally: o Belfield & Crosta, 2012; Edgescombe, 2011; Scott-Clayton, 2012; Scott-Clayton & Rodriguez, 2012): bit.ly/CCRCAssessbit.ly/CCRCAssess o CCCSE 2016 Report: bit.ly/CCCSEMMbit.ly/CCCSEMM –California alone o Willett, Hayward, & Dahlstrom, 2008: bit.ly/WIllett2008, Martinez, 2011: bit.ly/Martinez2011, Hetts, Fuenmayor, & Rothstein, 2012: bit.ly/PathwaysResearch, Willett & Karanjeff, 2014: bit.ly/RPSTEPS, Ngo & Kwan, 2015; bit.ly/Ngo2015bit.ly/WIllett2008 bit.ly/Martinez2011bit.ly/PathwaysResearchbit.ly/RPSTEPSbit.ly/Ngo2015 o Multiple Measures Assessment Project: bit.ly/MMAP2015bit.ly/MMAP2015

7. MMAP Project Overview Collaborative effort of CCCCO Common Assessment Initiative (CAI), Cal- PASS Plus, RP Group and now 45 CCCs Identify, analyze, & validate multiple measures data (including HS transcript data, non cognitive variable data, and self-reported HS transcript data For English, Mathematics, ESL and Reading Focus on predictive validity (success in course) using categorization and regression tree models Engage pilot colleges to conduct local replications, test models and pilot their use in placement, and provide feedback bit.ly/MMAP2015

8. Examples of Transfer-Level Decision rules Transfer-level English  HS 12 GPA >=2.6 Math (College Alg.)  HS 12 GPA>=3.2 AND Intermediate Algebra C or better or  HS 12 GPA>=3.0 AND (Pre-Calculus or Statistics with C or better) http://bit.ly/MMAPRules

9. Projected impact on placement and success Placement into transfer-levelProjected Success Rates

10. Common Concerns/Multiple Measures Myths  Students placed via multiple measures will not be successful  Transfer level courses will have lower success rates  Our test is different/better/more awesome  Students would be better off in developmental education o Students will only get a “C” in transfer-level work o C’s in transfer-level courses will reduce opportunity to transfer  High school GPA is only predictive for recent graduates  It’s too hard to get or use transcripts  It will take us 2-3 years to make progress at my college  Will threaten my college’s FTES http://bit.ly/MultipleMeasuresMythshttp://bit.ly/MultipleMeasuresMyths (in development)

11. Success Rate by Method of Qualification in Transfer Level English (LBCC )

12. Dramatic impacts on transfer course completion (LBCC in first two years) English Math

13. Summary  Concerns don’t hold water/more often reveal stereotypes about community college students that just aren’t true  On average, evidence-based multiple measures  improves success rates in transfer-level courses  dramatically increases transfer-level placement and completion of the developmental sequence  saves students 1-2 semester of developmental education  Coupled with work on acceleration, corequisite developmental education, and cutscore reform, demonstrates that collectively our system has been systematically and substantially underestimating our students’ capacity

14. Thank you!  John Hetts  Educational Results Partnership  jhetts@edresults.org jhetts@edresults.org  714-380-2678 cell  Twitter: @jjhetts #LetIcarusFly  ~Two million new community college students per year  “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Fierce Urgency of Now Contact Information

15. Is This Better? Developmental Placement Reform in North Carolina brad.Bostian@cpcc.edu

16. High School GPA is a better predictor of college English grades

17. High School GPA is a better predictor of college math grades

18. ACT and SAT were statistically significant predictors

19. However, they added nothing to the high school GPA

20. Further, there was roughly a.6 drop in GPA from high school to college. That means a student would have to have about a 2.6 high school GPA in order to average a passing 2.0 “C” average at a North Carolina community college.

21. So, we created a hierarchical system of placement waivers 1.College credits 2.Unweighted HS GPA 2.6+ & college prep 4 th math 3.ACT/SAT at national benchmark scores 4.Customized “NCDAP” placement test

22. We went from 38% of students placing into college level English and college level math through pre-calculus, to 54%. This represents 970 more students each fall moving from developmental to college level placement at Central Piedmont Community College, and roughly 10,000 statewide.

23. Course success rates are basically unchanged overall, unchanged for new students, and most are higher than average for students placed by their high school GPA.

24. Better yet, before the policy only 24% of new students completed a college English class during the first term, a figure that is now 38%. The math figure went from 11% to 16%. The figure for students placed by their high school GPA is 70% for English and 35% for math.

25. Some hallmarks of improved placement might be: 1.Placing most students at college level 2.Without drastically lowering course success rates 3.While significantly raising gatekeeper course completion rates... and transfer and graduation rates?

26. Is This Better? Developmental Placement Reform in North Carolina brad.Bostian@cpcc.edu

27. 27 March 20, 2016 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER March 20, 2016 Nikki Edgecombe, Senior Research Associate Is This Better? Developmental Placement Reform in Virginia

28. 28 March 20, 2016 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Virginia developmental education redesign MathEnglish Students diagnostically placed into up to 9 1-credit modules based on program of study 3-tier integrated reading and writing courses (8 credit, 4 credit, and 2 credit + fresh comp) Developmental Math and English Course Reforms MathEnglish Virginia Placement Test (VPT-M) Customized, computer-adaptive + diagnostic components Placement Policy Prerequisite requirements for liberal arts math lowered from intermediate algebra to beginning algebra Virginia Placement Test (VPT-E) Customized, writing sample + multiple choice Placement Policy Co-requisite course allows students placing into highest level of developmental English to enroll in college English simultaneously Assessment and Placement Reforms

29. 29 March 20, 2016 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER College math placements more than double post redesign 34% 156%

30. 30 March 20, 2016 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Introductory college math completion rates rise 36% 30%

31. 31 March 20, 2016 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Number of students eligible to enroll in college English increased substantially 60% 35% 137%

32. 32 March 20, 2016 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER How has student progression through College English changed post-reform?

33. 33 March 20, 2016 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Please visit us on the web at http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu where you can download presentations, reports, and briefs, and sign-up for news announcements. We’re also on Facebook and Twitter. Community College Research Center Teachers College, Columbia University 525 West 120th Street, Box 174, New York, NY 10027 E-mail: ccrc@columbia.edu Telephone: 212.678.3091 For more information