ERIC_NO:
ED214599
TITLE:
Assessment of Mandatory Placement in Communications: Fall 1981.
AUTHOR:
Bers, Trudy H.
PUBLICATION_DATE:
1982
ABSTRACT:
As part of a one-year trial project, in fall 1981, Oakton College students who scored below 35 on the Educational Testing Service Test of
Written Expression were not permitted to enroll in C101 (an introductory
communications course) until they had successfully completed a developmental
communications course or had retaken and passed the exam. To assess this
mandatory placement policy, all sections of fall 1980 and fall 1981 C101
courses were compared with respect to grade distribution and course
completion rates. Individual student scores on the Test of Written Expression
(TWE) and the Nelson-Denny Reading Tests (NDRT) were correlated with measures
of academic performance, such as grades in communications courses and
grade point average (GPA). The study revealed that: (1) under mandatory
placement, a higher percentage of enrollees in C101 successfully completed
the course than under advisory placement procedures used the year before;
(2) TWE scores were not significantly correlated to student course grades
or overall GPA, while NDRT scores were strongly correlated to course grades;
(3) NDRT total scores (which combined vocabulary and reading comprehension
scores) were strongly related to students' GPA's for courses other than
communications courses; and (4) grades in C101 were not related to grades
in other courses. Based on the findings, recommendations to use the NDRT
for placement and to track subsequent performance in developmental courses
were made. (KL)
MAJOR_DESCRIPTORS:
Predictive Measurement; Reading Tests; Standardized Tests; Student Placement; Writing Evaluation; Writing Instruction;
MINOR DESCRIPTORS:
Community Colleges; Grade Point Average; Predictive Validity; Two Year Colleges; Verbal Tests; Writing Skills;
IDENTIFIERS:
Nelson Denny Reading Tests; Test of Written Expression
PUBLICATION_TYPE:
143