Friday, May 21, 2010

Exit criteria from reading and writing remediation at community college

What practices are used to determine student readiness to advance in or exit from remediation at community colleges in the U.S?

These are the criteria at Leeward Community College where I teach:

Reading--
  • Appropriate placement test score (LCC uses the Compass test).  Also, students can retake the Compass test after 60 days have elapsed from the initial administration of the test.  However, once a student has earned a grade in a reading class at LCC, he or she cannot take the Compass test again.
  • Passing (defined as receiving a grade of C or better) a developmental reading course, in the case of our college English 21.  It should be noted that at LCC, there are three levels of pre-college (i.e. developmental) reading:  Eng 8, Eng 18, and Eng 21.  (click on the links to see approved core outlines for each course).
  • Approval from the Language Arts Division.  Note: reading faculty are given the approval authority to allow students to advance to a specific reading level course.  For example, I, based on evidence I have (e.g. course work, test scores, reading portfolio) can approve the promotion of a student from Eng 8 to Eng 21.
Writing--
  • Appropriate placement test score (LCC uses the Compass test).  It should be noted that students can challenge a writing placement test score by providing a sample of their writing, written in a lab setting at our college's Learning Resource Center.  Also, students can retake the Compass test after 60 days have elapsed from the initial administration of the test.  However, once a student has earned a grade in a writing class at LCC, he or she cannot take the Compass test again.
  • Passing (defined as receiving a grade of C or better) the highest level developmental reading course, in the case of our college, English 22.  It should be noted that at LCC, there are three levels of pre-college (i.e. developmental) writing:  Eng 8, Eng 19, and Eng 22.  (click on the links to see approved core outlines for each course).
  • Approval from the Language Arts Division.  Note: writing faculty are given the approval authority to allow students to advance to a specific writing level course.  For example, I, based on evidence I have (e.g. course work, test scores, writing portfolio) can approve the promotion of a student from Eng 8 to Eng 22. 
Comments are welcome regarding exit criteria at other community colleges in the U.S.

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