AIC Progress Report
October 9, 2002
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 are not able to change the COMPASS test cut off scores and must wait for the data from ACT before any decisions are made regarding the validity of the test and the test cut-off scores, we have already implemented the following strategies:
1. Upon completion of the COMPASS test, every incoming student now gets a one-on-one interview with Nancy Buchanan, Jack Pond, Frank Sherry, or Dick Wong so that the students’ interpretation of the COMPASS test is checked.
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.
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 COMPASS test to 500 juniors at Waipahu High School in the Spring of 2003. If this pilot program works, the practice will be expanded to other area high schools. 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, Waianae, and Waipahu) for onsite testing. The latter begins with Campbell in mid-October 2002. Impact areas are the DOE, Frank Sherry, and Gail Levy.
7. The Assessment Office will keep track of the waivers in both English and Math to see how many exceptions are made and what happens to the students who receive the waivers. Impact areas are Frank Sherry and the Discipline Coordinators.
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