From: Gkerstie <[log in to unmask]>
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Subject: WINTERINSTITUTE3
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 1998 20:51:59 EST
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Winter Institute, January 6, 1998, Summary of Session
19th Annual Institute
Wednesday, January 7
WEATHER REPORT: SIXTY-SEVEN PLEASANT DEGREES IN SCOTTSDALE
(That's in the shade. The wind-chill factor in the sun is 80
degrees.)
Presenters: Rodger Slater, Co-chair of Assessment Council, Maricopa
Community College District, & Bill Mathis, Director, LAC,
South Mountain Community College
"Institutional Assessment Issues"
Rodger explained that his presentation would center on student assessment
issues that obtain not only on single campuses but also those that surface in
a multi-campus district (the Maricopa District is composed of 11 colleges
whose student population is the 2nd largest in the country). Narrowing the
scope of his delivery, he noted that too often assessment is confused and
equated with testing, which is only one factor in many that involve
assessment. Nevertheless, since the reality is that basic skills testing
(reading, writing, and math) is the engine that drives instruction as well as
student placement and advancement, it is a factor that needs to be addressed,
especially in his district which administers entrance exams to 43,000 students
each year.
Issues discussed at length and with a sufficiency of examples follow:
Mandatory placement vs discretionary placement: research indicates
that, on 7 success factors, students on campuses employing dis-
cretionary placement are more successful (Exxon Study)
Cut-scores placing students in English, reading, and math courses
Uniformity of testing procedures on all campuses, district-wide
The efficacy of computer-adaptive basic skills testing
The area or facility in which testing occurs
The abuses and backwash effects of time-critical testing
Assessment situations and methods for distance learners
Ability to Benefit problems and issues
Use of multiple measures in the assessment/testing matrix
Centering campus-wide testing in the LAC
Opportunities for immediate re-testing on-demand or upon counselor's/
instructor's recommendation
Methods and style of test administration, explanation of scores, and
rationale for placement
The tenure of scores as placement factors (after a student earns a score
and placement level on a test, how long will it be considered
valid?)
In sum, these issues were discussed as political, emotionally charged,
instructional issues that occasion professionals becoming familiar with
another's esophaguses in their hands. Ways of resolving some of them were
elaborated.
Bill Mathis's presentation centered on problems that we typically fail to
to face objectively as we encounter them.
The misuse of assessment (for instance, using testing chiefly or entirely
as a sorting device for administrative convenience)
Failure to use a combination formal and informal assessment strategies
Failure to identify weak links in the assessment process (for instance,
failure to share assessment information or to make appropriate
referrals)
Faculty misunderstanding of the meaning of scores and their possible
application
The need for faculty and staff to take all placement tests under the same
conditions as those provided for ("inflicted upon"?) students
Failure to appropriate sufficient budget and other infrastructure for
assessment
Responders: Frank Christ underscored the critical tone of the presentations
stating that we should reaffirm our position that all assessment services
should be focused on the use of assessment to serve students. Gwyn Enright
noted that we need to assess holistically, not merely with attention limited
to cut-off scores, percentiles, and grade-level equivalancies.
Meeting was adjourned at noon so that participants could take advantage of the
Institute break traditionally enjoyed at a half-way point during Institute
proceedings. Besides visiting some local campus facilities, members are said
to be journeying to Sedona, the Arizona Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen
West facility, Florence, Arizona, and one energetic member plans to ascend
Squaw Peak.
Talk with you later, Gene Kerstiens
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