Past, Present, and Future of Developmental Placement at CUNY - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Past, Present, and Future of Developmental Placement at CUNY

EDWARD RUBIO AND SARAH TRUELSCH INNOVATIVE PRACTICES IN DEVELOPMENTAL MATHEMATICS CONFERENCE MARCH 2017

History of Math Developmental Placement Criteria at CUNY

Effective Date Applicable School Tier* SAT Scores Regents Scores and Course Completion Compass Placement Test Elementary Algebra Arithmetic March 2015 All 500 70 on Common Core- aligned regents + Algebra 2 40** 45** March 2014 All 500 80 + Algebra 2 40** 45** March 2012 1 510 80 + Algebra 2 45 45 2 500 80 + Algebra 2 40 35 3 480 80 + Algebra 2 40 35 March 2011 1 510 75 +Algebra 2 45 45 2 500 75 +Algebra 2 40 35 3 480 75 +Algebra 2 40 35 October 2008 1 510 75 45 45 2 500 75 30 35 3 480 75 30 30 October 2007 All 480 75 30 30 March 2004 All 480 75 27 27 March 2000 All 480 75 CMAT 25

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The past: CUNY practices for assigning students to developmental education have changed many times over the years.

*Tier 1: Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter, Lehman, Queens, and York (as of Fall 2012)

Tier 2: John Jay, Medgar Evers, NYCCT, Staten Island and York (until 2012) Tier 3: BMCC, Bronx, Hostos, Kingsborough, LaGuardia, and Queensborough

Over time, the percentage of students assigned to math remediation increased as stricter requirements were added, running counter to trends in reading and writing.

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58.0 54.6 37.1 50.0 46.4 19.1 20.7 14.0

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

PERCENTAGE OF FRESHMEN ASSIGNED TO REMEDIATION, BY SUBJECT: ALL CUNY COLLEGES

Any Math Writing Reading

In 2015, CUNY launched a comprehensive review of developmental practices. At the same time, by coincidence, every element of CUNY’s traditional placement standards changed, necessitating a review of practices.

Summar Summary of R

• f Recent Changes in

cent Changes in Placement T Placement Tools

• ols

Placement tools Change Effective Date SAT New Common Core-aligned SAT replaced the traditional tests March 2016 Regents exams New Common Core-aligned exams replace the traditional tests Available starting in 2014 Placement tests (Compass) Compass exams no longer available from

• manufacturer. CUNY replaced them with

the ACCUPLACER test. October 2016 Course-taking UAPC will stop certifying applicants’ academic units and take course names at face value Spring 2017? Testing and Admissions technology Converting to new CUNYFirst modules Spring 2018 or Spring 2019

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Drawing on emerging evidence, CUNY’s Developmental Education Task Force recommended several changes to placement practices.

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Recommendation commendation In place f lace for r Eliminate the requirement that students complete an Algebra 2 course in high school in addition to earning a 70 on a Regents exam to be exempt from developmental courses. Make the cut score on the Algebra 2 Regents 65 rather than 70. Spring 2017 admissions Incorporate high school grades into placement decisions. Fall 2018 admissions Improve support for students prior to taking placement tests Fall 2017 Allow students who score just below the cut point on placement tests to complete a short intervention and re-take the test before making a final placement decision. Spring 2017 Revisit placement criteria and support services for adult students, especially in math. Fall 2018 admissions

Placement practices introduced for spring 2017 reflected both DTF recommendations and changes in available standardized tests.

Sum Summary of Cut y of Cut P Point ints on CUNY

• n CUNY’s Pr

Profi

• ficiency

y Mark Marker ers, Ef s, Effectiv ctive f e for Spring 2 r Spring 2017 A Admissions missions Placement New cut point Automatic Retest Previous Cut Point Basic Math Proficiency/ Entry- level credit math courses SAT math>=530

• SAT math>=500 (old

test) CC Regents Algebra 1 or Geo>=70 Alg 2>=65

• >=80 on any math

Regents and pass Algebra 2 high school course Accuplacer Elementary Algebra >=57 50-56 Compass Algebra >=40 Elementary Algebra or Alternative Pathway Accuplacer EA 40-56

• Compass Numerical

Skills Pre-algebra >=45

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In fall 2015, the Offices of Policy Research and Testing conducted a study to determine the relationship between scores on Accuplacer Elementary Algebra and performance in CUNY math courses and recommend cut scores for assignment to developmental education.

• 1,834 students in “typical” entry-level math courses (~1,500 credit-bearing courses) took
• Accuplacer. Courses included College Algebra, Statistics, and quantitative reasoning.
• Tested all students present in a class on a given day and offered $50 gift cards to roughly

the top 20% of scorers in each course type to incentivize maximum effort

• There was wide variation in Accuplacer scores within each course type.

6 20 40 60 Frequency 20 40 60 80 100 120 ElementaryAlgebra

College and Intermediate Algebra

20 40 60 80 Frequency 20 40 60 80 100 120 ElementaryAlgebra

CIA/QR

Students who scored at the lower end of the Accuplacer Elementary Algebra score range in the pilot were still fairly likely to pass their courses.

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62.5 57.1 56.7 49.1 63.5 55.8 67.3 62.5 65.9 68.1 61.6 69.9 67.3 65.2 81.6 80.2 82.7 85.2 89.1 96.3 94.3 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Pass Rate

Accuplacer Elementary Algebra Score Bands Percentage of Students Who Passed a College/Intermediate Algebra or Quantitative Reasoning Course by Accuplacer Score Band

According to our regression models, at a score of 57, students have, on average, a 63% chance of passing an entry-level credit-bearing math course.

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0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 100 104 108 112 116 120 Average Marginal Predicted Probability Accuplacer Elementary Algebra Score 63%

In Spring 2017 test-taking, the Accuplacer standards placed more students into credit courses in math than the previous Compass standards had.

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Com Compass=40 ass=40 Accu cupla placer=5 er=57 N=9,4 N=9,479 N= 8,7 ,760 60 College College Name Name % P % Pass ss % P % Pass ss Bronx 12 27 Queensborough 23 43 Kingsborough 24 37 BMCC 19 36 Hostos 12 24 Guttman 42 LaGuardia 23 44 CUNY CUNY-wide

• wide

20 36 Com Compass=45 ass=45 Accu cupla placer=40 er=40 N= N= 7,622 7,622 N= 5,56 N= 5,564 College College Name Name % P % Pass ss % P % Pass ss Bronx 17 25 Queensborough 22 29 Kingsborough 22 28 BMCC 23 29 Hostos 13 22 Guttman 33 LaGuardia 20 31 CUNY CUNY-wide

• wide

20 28

Eleme Elementary Algebra R Algebra Result sults Arithme rithmetic R c Result sults

The new re-test policy also contributed to the higher placement rates in credit courses for spring 2017.

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Math R Math Re-Testing f esting for Community an r Community and d Com Comprehensiv rehensive College Entrants e College Entrants

Initial Score Initial Score Total Scorer

• tal Scorers

Pe Perc rcentage who R who Re- Test ested ed Pe Perc rcentage who P who Passed ssed on

• n

Second T Second Test est 50 93 35.5 42.4 51 109 37.6 63.4 52 91 37.4 70.6 53 95 34.7 54.5 54 90 38.9 42.9 55 94 45.7 46.5 56 95 44.2 57.1 Total tal 667 667 39. 39.1 54.0 54.0

• Mean change in score for re-testers is +7.3 points

In the near future, including high school grades in exemption decisions could improve placement accuracy.

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• Including high school grades in exemption decisions, in addition to Regents and

SAT scores, has the potential to improve accuracy of placement.

• Candidates for exemption from remediation under multiple measures may

include students with strong high school GPAs who just missed the cut points on SAT and Regents, or who do not have SAT and Regents scores.

• Of Fall 2016 CUNY applicants:
• Approximately 1,500 applicants who had a GPA of B- or higher just missed

the SAT and Regents cut scores by a few points for math.