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Randy K. Schwartz, Chairman voice 313/462-4400 extn. 5290
Department of Mathematics fax 313/462-4558
Liberal Arts Building email rschwart@schoolcraft.cc.mi.us
Schoolcraft College
18600 Haggerty Road
Livonia, MI 48152-2696
USA
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LAC Adds Computerized Placement Testing
by Randy Schwartz
In the wake of its move into new digs at the McDowell Center, the
Learning Assistance Center (LAC) is enlarging its placement toolkit.
Starting in April, for placement into math and other courses beginning Fall
1995, students can choose from among three instruments: the ASSET test, the
ACT test, and the Computerized Placement Test (CPT).
Produced by the College Board /Educational Testing Service, the CPT is a
fully computerized placement test for arithmetic, elementary algebra, reading
comprehension, and sentence skills. Lansing CC, Macomb CC and many other
community colleges have made use of the test for placement.
Participating in a pilot study last fall, several math faculty at
Schoolcraft familiarized themselves and their students with the CPT. It is a
branching, interactive test that adjusts the difficulty of its questions in
accordance with previous responses. The test is untimed; the most skilled
students complete it the most rapidly, but in no case must a student answer
more than twenty questions in a given segment of the test.
Schoolcraft does not administer the ACT test itself, but students who
have taken it (normally in high school) may use their scores for placement
here. The LAC has administered the ASSET test, also produced by ACT, for the
last five years. Both the ASSET and ACT tests are timed, paper-and-pencil
tests, making them useful for many students who might feel uncomfortable in a
computerized setting.
At the current time, none of the three instruments (CPT, ASSET, ACT)
allows the use of calculating devices.
In her report on the pilot study at Schoolcraft, which involved over 100
students, LAC Director Sirkka Gudan found that CPT and ASSET scores were
generally well correlated. Based on this data, Dr. Gudan formulated CPT
cutoff scores that are as consistent as possible with the cutoffs that have
been in use with ASSET placement testing at Schoolcraft.
In a survey that formed part of the pilot study, 33% of the student
sample said that they had already had previous experience with computer
testing, and 93% had had at least some experience with computers. Only 10%
said that they disagreed that taking a test on a computer was an acceptable
measure of their skills. Typical comments from students included, I like
using the computer , It made test-taking fun and interesting , and I m glad
you could take as long as you wanted.
(Note: since this article was written, the ACT has changed its policy and now
allows calculators to be used.)