The ongoing discussion about the effectiveness of college placement exams got a welcome boost this week with a new report that illuminates efforts to rethink how the tests should be used to determine if students need remedial education.
Part of the discussion in the report questions the effectiveness of remedial education itself.
The report—titled “Where To Begin? The Evolving Role Of Placement Exams For Students Starting College” –- was produced by Jobs for the Future, a Boston, Mass.-based education policy group that is one of several nonprofits working to dramatically increase the number of low-income youth and adults who attain a post-secondary credential over the next decade.
A college placement exam critic as well as a representative from the maker of a commonly-used college placement exam both said the report represents a timely look at an area of higher education that is overdue for reform.
“We’ve been advocating for almost everything that’s been indicated in the report for quite a few years now,” said David Parmele, executive director in the ACCUPLACER program for the College Board.
The ACCUPLACER is a college placement exam produced by the College Board.
“We do not believe that the placement score alone should be the only factor used to decide a student’s placement into college-level classes,” Parmele said, echoing a key aspect of the report—namely, how some systems are weighing the merits of moving away from the widespread practice of using the test scores as the only basis for assigning students to remedial classes and toward using multiple measures, such as high school grades.
