Nelson-Denny as a pre- and post test for a Basic Reading Class

For the past several semesters, I, along with reading faculty colleagues at Leeward Community College, have been using the Nelson-Denny as a pre- (Form G) and post-test (Form H)  for the students enrolled in remedial and developmental reading courses. Some include the Nelson-Denny as part of the course grade, with points given to students who have demonstrated improvement from pre- to post-test.

What I have been doing is giving full credit (100%) on the post-test for students who score at the 8.5 grade level or higher.  For those who test out at a lower grade level, they earn a lower percentage. For my classes (Eng 8 --Basic Reading and Writing), the Nelson-Denny (Form H) is worth 5% of the final grade for the class.

One question that may come to mind is Why grade level 8.5?  What I can say is that in doing a search for the appropriate exit level for students in Eng 8, I found nothing conclusive.  However, what I did find is that at least one instructor at another CC in the University of Hawaii system is using the Nelson-Denny score (grade level 10.5) as part of the exit criteria for his course, and this course (Eng 21) is two  levels above Eng 8 (with Eng 18 being the course in between).  So I surmised that 8.5 would be an appropriate grade level for exit from Eng 8, and 9.5 would be appropriate for Eng 18, and 10.5 for Eng 21.

Any comments?  Suggestions?