[RUME] Placement Tests (was: Question about self-paced, computer-based instruction and testing programs)

[Derek Bruff]

Gordon,

Following are a few references that I think might be helpful.  I am on a
team developing an online placement exam for introductory mathematics
classes here at Harvard, and I found several of these references useful in
terms of assessing our placement processes.

1) Craig McFate and John Olmsted, "Assessing Student Preparation through
Placement Tests," Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 76, No. 4, April 1999,
pages 562-565.

The subject is chemistry, but the statistical analysis of a few different
measures of "successful" placement is very interesting.

2) Marie Revak, Scott Frickenstein, and David Cribb, "If We Sent It, They
Will Study: The Effect of a Practice Placement Exam on Placement Scores and
Success in Calculus I," PRIMUS, Vol. X, No. 3, Sept 2000, pages 277-287.

This study analyzes the effect of sending a practice placement exam (with
solutions) to incoming freshmen.  It helped me see that giving students a
chance to study for a placement exam (perhaps by letting them take it
multiple times) could be a good thing.

3) Carmen Latterell and Ronald Regal, "Are Placement Tests for Incoming
Undergraduate Mathematics Students Worth the Expense of Administration?",
PRIMUS, Vol. XIII, No. 2, June 2003, pages 152-164.

This study compared the placement "success" of an in-house placement test
with the ACT.  The result was that the ACT did a better job, but the
in-house test would continue to be used anyway.

4) David Frisbie, "Methods of Evaluating Course Placement Systems,"
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1982, pages
133-140.

This article presents some general strategies for evaluating the efficacy of
placement tests, including validation studies, placement-enrollment
comparisons, and student questionnaires.

5) Charles Henderson, "Common Concerns About the Force Concept Inventory,"
The Physics Teacher, Vol. 40, Dec 2002, pages 542-547.

This study considers the use of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) as a
placement exam, pre-test, and post-test.  If you haven't heard of the FCI,
you should investigate it.  It's a commonly used tool in the physics
education community.

Derek


On 1/25/05 9:02 AM, "Gordon S Woodward" <gwoodwar at math.unl.edu> wrote:

> I have a somewhat related question. At the University of Nebraska we, like
> many schools, have a mandatory mathematics placement test for precalculus
> and beginning calculus courses. We are comparing student success in
> Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, Business Calculus, and Science
> Calculus I with placement exam scores and ACT subscores. I recall seeing
> similar such studies at other institutions, but do not have any references.
> Can anyone help with references? Of course the placement exams would be
> different, but the ACT is not and any results would help us understand the
> problem better.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Gordon Woodward
> Math Dept, UNL
> 
> 
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-- 
Derek Bruff, Preceptor
Department of Mathematics, Harvard University
Email: bruff at fas.harvard.edu
Web: http://www.derekbruff.com/