Utilizing Additional Measures of High School Academic Preparation to Support Students in their Math Self-Assessment

ABSTRACT

This study describes student behavior through the actual assessment and placement (A&P) process. It then uses an alternative A&P policy that utilizes an additional measure that assesses prior math preparedness alongside subtest choice. Utilizing data from a community college that allows its' students to choose the assessment subtest used to place them, we find a misalignment between students’ subtest choice and the highest math course they passed. After correcting for this misalignment through our alternative A&P criteria, we found that students experience increased access to higher levels of math while exhibiting similar success rates in their placed courses.

Funding

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A100381 to the University of Southern California. Additional support was received from an internal grant from the Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences (ASHSS) Initiative of the University of Southern California, Office of the Provost.

Additional information

Funding

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A100381 to the University of Southern California. Additional support was received from an internal grant from the Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences (ASHSS) Initiative of the University of Southern California, Office of the Provost.