AIC Progress Report

March 18, 2003

By Frank Sherry, Susan Hamilton, and Rae Watanabe

 

The principal charge of the Accreditation Implementation Committee on Placement Testing Impacts is to review and implement the following recommendation made in the report of the accreditation evaluation team, which visited Leeward Community College in October 2000:

“The team recommends that the college review the changes in placement scores that have resulted from its use of the COMPASS test and develop appropriate response strategies in the student services and instructional areas to ensure that students achieve their educational goals in as timely and efficient a manner as possible.”

Because we could not change the COMPASS test cut off scores and had to wait for the data from ACT before any decisions were made regarding the validity of the test and the test cut-off scores, we implemented the following strategies:

  1. Upon completion of the COMPASS test, every incoming student receives a one-on-one interview with a member of the testing/counseling staff.  This is done to ensure that each student understands their own test scores.  At this time, we also determine if any problems exist relative to the testing session or discuss any concerns the student may have relating to his or her placement.
  2. Both English and Math disciplines have developed waiver systems to accommodate students who feel that the COMPASS test didn’t place them accurately. In English, students write an essay and/or retake the reading test. In Math, department members review high school math scores and interview the student, or the student is retested with the LCC Math test (LCC’s former placement instrument and current back-up math test).  After one or both of these actions, a decision on math placement is made.
  3. In addition, for the Math portion of the COMPASS test, the order of the questions has been changed and the algebra questions appear first.
  4. Math 22 and English 18/19 have been added to the curriculum.

In addition, current response strategies that focus on test preparation are:

  1. Handouts that include practice COMPASS questions have not been made available because the ACT website (see 3 below) and test prep book (see 2 below) are more than adequate.  Impact areas would have been the LRC, the bookstore, LCC-Waianae, and the LCC Library.
  2. The test prep book Chart Your Success on the COMPASS is now available on campus at the LCC Library, the LRC, and the Math Lab as well as at LCC-Waianae, public libraries and Waipahu High School.  Moreover, Frank Sherry is in the process of making the book available to 3 other area high schools.  Impact areas are the LRC, the bookstore, LCC-Waianae, and the LCC library
  3. Introductory letters to students who plan to attend LCC now include the ACT website (http://www.act.org/compass/ index.html) that offers test preparation.  The letters also include the campus locations of the test prep book.   Impact area is Student Services.
  4. The LRC staff is aware of the ACT website, in order to facilitate students who wish to see and learn more about COMPASS and take practice tests. Impact area is the LRC.
  5. The Assessment Office, in cooperation with Waipahu High School and the Chancellor’s Office, will offer the opportunity to take the COMPASS test to 500 juniors at Waipahu High School.  If this pilot program is successful, the practice may be expanded to other area high schools.  (The testing is scheduled to take place in the Spring of 2003.)  Impact areas are the DOE, Student Services, and Frank Sherry.
  6. Test preparation at the high schools includes counselors coming to LCC to take the COMPASS test as well as Frank Sherry setting up 4 area high schools (Pearl City, Campbell, Waialua, and Waipahu) for onsite testing.  The latter began with Campbell in mid-October 2002.   Impact areas are the DOE, Frank Sherry, and Gail Levy.
  7. The Assessment Office keeps track of the waivers in both English and Math to see how many exceptions were made and what happened to the students who received the waivers.  In English, 69 students were tested and 20 were granted waivers.  Of those 20, 5 did not register and there is no information on 4.  Of the 11 who registered for the higher class, 8 passed (4 earned an A; 1 earned a B; 3 earned a C; 1 withdrew; 1 received an I or incomplete; 1 received an N).   Therefore, 72.7% successfully completed the course.   Data is currently being collected on students who receive Math waivers.  Impact areas are Frank Sherry and the Discipline Coordinators.
  8. In March the Community College System reported to the campus the results of the four year Hawaii CC campuses/ACT validity study.  Our English and Math faculties are currently studying the ACT recommendations and will recommend changes in cut-off scores in the near future.  The availability of this data will facilitate the refinement of our current cut-off scores, in order to provide students with the most accurate placement.

It is the committee’s belief that significant progress has been made to realize our principal charge.

 

Committee Members:   Nancy Buchanan, Lucy Gay, Susan Hamilton, Stella Ho-McGinnes Bernadette Howard, Sandra Kelley, Gail Levy, Andy Rossi, Frank Sherry, Stanley Uyemura, Rae Watanabe