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

The past: CUNY practices for assigning students to developmental education have changed many times over the years. History of Math Developmental Placement Criteria at CUNY Applicable Compass Placement Test School Regents Scores Arithmetic Effective Date Tier* SAT Scores and Course Completion Elementary Algebra 70 on Common Core- March 2015 All 500 aligned regents 40** 45** + Algebra 2 March 2014 40** All 500 80 + Algebra 2 45** 45 1 510 80 + Algebra 2 45 March 2012 40 2 500 80 + Algebra 2 35 40 3 480 80 + Algebra 2 35 1 510 75 +Algebra 2 45 45 March 2011 40 2 500 75 +Algebra 2 35 40 3 480 75 +Algebra 2 35 45 1 510 75 45 October 2008 30 2 500 75 35 30 3 480 75 30 October 2007 30 All 480 75 30 March 2004 27 All 480 75 27 CMAT March 2000 25 All 480 75 * 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) 1 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 . PERCENTAGE OF FRESHMEN ASSIGNED TO REMEDIATION, BY SUBJECT: ALL CUNY COLLEGES 70.0 58.0 60.0 54.6 Any 50.0 46.4 50.0 Math 37.1 40.0 30.0 Writing 19.1 20.7 20.0 Reading 10.0 14.0 0.0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2

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 of Recent Changes in cent Changes in Placement T Placement Tools ools Placement tools Change Effective Date SAT New Common Core-aligned SAT replaced March 2016 the traditional tests Regents exams New Common Core-aligned exams Available starting replace the traditional tests in 2014 Placement tests Compass exams no longer available from October 2016 (Compass) manufacturer. CUNY replaced them with the ACCUPLACER test. Course-taking UAPC will stop certifying applicants’ Spring 2017? academic units and take course names at face value Testing and Converting to new CUNYFirst modules Spring 2018 or Admissions Spring 2019 technology 3

Drawing on emerging evidence, CUNY’s Developmental Education Task Force recommended several changes to placement practices. Recommendation commendation In place f lace for r Eliminate the requirement that students complete an Algebra 2 Spring 2017 course in high school in addition to earning a 70 on a Regents admissions exam to be exempt from developmental courses. Make the cut score on the Algebra 2 Regents 65 rather than 70. 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 Spring 2017 tests to complete a short intervention and re-take the test before making a final placement decision. Revisit placement criteria and support services for adult Fall 2018 students, especially in math. admissions 4

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 on CUNY’s Pr Profi oficiency y Mark Marker ers, Ef s, Effectiv ctive f e for Spring 2 r Spring 2017 A Admissions missions Placement New cut point Automatic Previous Cut Point Retest Basic Math Proficiency/ Entry- SAT math>=530 -- SAT math>=500 (old level credit math courses test) CC Regents Algebra 1 or -- >=80 on any math Geo>=70 Regents and pass Alg 2>=65 Algebra 2 high school course Accuplacer Elementary 50-56 Compass Algebra Algebra >=57 >=40 Elementary Algebra or Accuplacer EA 40-56 -- Compass Numerical Alternative Pathway Skills Pre-algebra >=45 5

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. CIA/QR College and Intermediate Algebra 60 80 60 40 Frequency Frequency 40 20 20 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 20 40 60 80 100 120 ElementaryAlgebra ElementaryAlgebra 6

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. Percentage of Students Who Passed a College/Intermediate Algebra or Quantitative Reasoning Course by Accuplacer Score Band 96.3 94.3 100 81.6 80.2 82.7 85.2 89.1 90 80 69.9 67.3 65.2 62.5 65.9 68.1 67.3 70 63.5 62.5 61.6 Pass Rate 57.1 56.7 55.8 60 49.1 50 40 30 20 10 0 Accuplacer Elementary Algebra Score Bands 7

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. 1.0 Average Marginal Predicted Probability 0.9 0.8 0.7 63% 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 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 Accuplacer Elementary Algebra Score 8

In Spring 2017 test-taking, the Accuplacer standards placed more students into credit courses in math than the previous Compass standards had. Elementary Algebra R Eleme Algebra Result sults Arithme rithmetic R c Result sults Com Compass=40 ass=40 Accu cupla placer=5 er=57 Com Compass=45 ass=45 Accu cupla placer=40 er=40 N=9,4 N=9,479 N= 8,7 ,760 60 N= 7,622 N= 7,622 N= 5,564 N= 5,56 College College Name Name % P % Pass ss % P % Pass ss College College Name Name % Pass % P ss % P % Pass ss Bronx 17 25 Bronx 12 27 Queensborough 22 29 Queensborough 23 43 Kingsborough 22 28 Kingsborough 24 37 BMCC 23 29 BMCC 19 36 Hostos 13 22 Hostos 12 24 Guttman 0 33 Guttman 0 42 LaGuardia 20 31 LaGuardia 23 44 CUNY CUNY-wide -wide 20 28 CUNY CUNY-wide -wide 20 36 9

The new re-test policy also contributed to the higher placement rates in credit courses for spring 2017. Math R Math Re-Testing f esting for Community an r Community and d Com Comprehensiv rehensive College Entrants e College Entrants Pe Perc rcentage Pe Perc rcentage who R who Re- who Passed who P ssed on on Initial Score Initial Score Total Scorer otal Scorers Test ested ed 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 • 10

In the near future, including high school grades in exemption decisions could improve placement accuracy. 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. 11