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Writing Self Placement

“The time that used to be spent testing wasreplaced by time spent communicating program standards and expectations to students who were now invited to take responsibility for much of this new placementprocess.”

- Dan Royer and Roger Gilles, Grand Valley State University

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Writing Self Placement:Definition

The act of informed students enrolling into the writing class of their choice.

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Rhodes State College

• Two-year technical college• Applied associate’s degrees

– Arts and Sciences– Business/Public Service– Engineering/Information Technologies– Nursing– Allied Health

• 3,100 headcount• Student average age 27

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Timed Writing Placement at Rhodes

• Orientation – students take 45-minute timed writing

• Teachers evaluate writing

• Students “placed”

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Problems with one-time writing assessments

• Not representative of academic writing: timed writing does not allow for the writing “process”: brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading.

• The writing is just a snapshot• College English leadership (CCCC) is

against one-time assessments• Writing placement is not only about writing

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CCCC Position Statement on Writing Assessment (1995)

• Any individual's writing "ability" is a sum of a variety of skills employed in a diversity of contexts, and individual ability fluctuates unevenly among these varieties. Consequently, one piece of writing--even if it is generated under the most desirable conditions--can never serve as an indicator of overall literacy, particularly for high stakes decisions.

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The Beginning

Park City, Utah, 2002, Annual Conference of Writing Program Administrators

Self placement began at Rhodes one year later, summer 2003.

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The Process

● Letter sent to students prior to orientation from writing faculty

●Letter describes the two course options:

English Composition

Developmental Writing

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The Letter to Students

Includes subjective criteria predictive of success in writing classes:

●Characteristics●Behaviors●Attitudes (e.g., confidence)

And includes objective criteria to consider: ●Learning Outcomes

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Why Put the Students in Charge?

• After providing students with directed questions and information on behaviors, attitudes, and experiences needed to make an informed decision……………… the students then make their decision.

• Even so, why let the students decide? What’s the RATIONALE?

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Rhodes Rationale for Choosing this Self Placement Process

● Student “agency” (remember--it’s not only about the writing)

● Student ownership of college decisions starting from Day One

● Decisions have consequences

● Students know what they’re “ready” for better than teachers who take a one-time writing assessment

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Best Reason for Implementing Self Placement

► It’s the right thing to do ◄

– The right message (student agency)– At the right time (Day One)– For the right reasons (respecting that an

informed student has the capacity to make a personal placement decision)

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Placement Results

• With self-placement, students choose remediation at a higher percentage than previously

• Four-year university: 33% to 22%

• Rhodes (two-year college): 26% to 33%

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Research

• Research on grades in this presentation includes four complete years of grades

• 2001-2002 Timed writing placement

• 2003-2004 Self-placement

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2001-2004 COM 098 Grade C or Better by Placement Modality

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

Timed Writing Self-Placed

Percentage WhoEarned a C or Better

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Grade Outcomes

• Students placed by timed writing into COM-098 scored “C” or better 44.52% of the time (over 2-year period)

• Students self-placed into COM-098 scored “C” or better 75.51% of the time (over 2-year period)

• (“C” equals “satisfactory)

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Rhodes State CollegeCOM098 Grade C or better

Timed Writing vs. Self-Placed

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2001 67% 46% 41%

2002 56% 57% 44%

2003 84% 75% 79%

2004 85% 73% 71%

Fall Winter Spring

(2001-2002)

(2003-2004)

Timed Writing

Self-Placed

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Self-placed students had higher grades

• Because of self-efficacy?• Because taking the class was their idea?• Because they knew what class “fit” them best?

We don’t really know why. We just know

what is. Self placed students score higher.

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Student Rationale

Why do students elect to take a precollege class such as COM-098?

Lack of Confidence

Just because

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Student Rationale

Why do students elect to take English Composition and skip COM-098?

Wealth of confidence (i.e., they’re “ready,” a state of mind)

Just because

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Paradigm Shift

“The placement test now became the placement process.”

– Robbie Pinter and Ellen Sims, Belmont University

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Paradigm Shift in terms of Placement Modality

• In timed writing, students were placed strictly on writing ability as exhibited in one timed piece of writing (passive)

• In self-placement, students are placing themselves based on what they know about their own confidence level, behavior, and writing experience (active)

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More on GRADES

Timed Writing

• Students with B or better in COM-098 who

had C or better in COM-111: 61.8%Self-Placement

• Students with B or better in COM-098 who

had C or better in COM-111: 82.6%• “C” is “satisfactory”; “B” equals successful

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Grade Outcomes

• Students placed by timed writing into COM-098 scored “C” or better 44.52% of the time (over 2-year period)

• Students self-placed into COM-098 scored “C” or better 75.51% of the time (over 2-year period)

• (“C” equals “satisfactory)

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Needed follow-up

Timed Writing • Students with B or better in COM-098 who

had less than C in COM-111: 2.5%

Self-Placement• Though 82.6% of students scored

satisfactorily in COM-111, students with B or better in COM-098 who had less than C in COM-111: 9.6%

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It Works

• More self-placed students scored a satisfactory grade of “C” (75% to 44%) in the Developmental class

• More self-placed students with a “B” or better in COM-098 went on to score a “C” or better in COM-111: 82.6% vs. 61.8%.

• It’s the right thing to do—placement should be an inclusive process

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Additional Resources on Self Placement in Writing

• Grand Valley State University First Year Writing web page on Directed Self Placement, with links to various original articles by faculty members of Grand Valley State University and others

http://faculty.gvsu.edu/royerd/dsp/

• Council of Writing Program Administrators http://wpacouncil.org/

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Students “Confidence”: COM-098

• I placed myself into this class because I know that I am not confident of my English. • Confidence is non-present, and hope is little. • I figured I would start at the bottom since I’m starting over I’m going to do the right

way.• I took COM-098, because I think I could use the extra boost, and confidence.• Placing myself in this particular writing class , is to relearn the fundamentals of

writing . My confidence in my writing ability is not to high. • I am not confident about my writing skills and could use all the help I can get. I figure

it would be better to start from the bottom and work my way up, rather than go in over my head and get far behind.

• I placed myself into this class because I felt that I would benefit more starting out here than starting in COM-111. It has also been a while since my last English class and being a first time student I felt that this would start me off at a good place for all of my college classes.

• I really enjoy writing but I need to figure out how to become even more confident in my writing class.

• I took all the easy classes in high school so I thought it would be best for me to start at the level I am at which would be COM-098.

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Students “Just because”: COM-098

• During my senior year at Lima Senior I took a post secondary nursing course, where I earned an STNA license and 13 credit hours towards my first year at Rhodes. In high school, I took three advanced placement English classes, and during my senior I decided to take an integrated English course.

• I do know what I would like to do one day, and that is work for either DreamWorks or Pixar animation studios. I love computer animation, and it seems like something I would enjoy doing everyday on the job. Speedway isn’t the greatest and it hasn’t been a life long dream to work there either, especially with all the “weird” people coming in and out of those places.

• I was always on honor roll and my senior year I was 4.0 student. English was one of my better subjects.

• I graduated from Shawnee High School in 1976. I have always liked school, my grade point average then was 3.60. I did well in English, usually A’s or B’s. In 1989 I went to Northwestern College for a degree in computers. I received an Associates Degree in Computer Technology in 1991. Twice my grade point average was 4.0, making the Dean’s list. I also received an Outstanding Attendance Awared. […] I signed up for this class because it has been so long since I have gone to school, that I thought I might need to refresh any skills I might have left.

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Students “I’m Ready”: COM-111

• I put myself in this class because a friend of mine who started her first year here last year said that COM-098 isn’t worth taking and I felt that I did alright in English in high school so I should do alright in college.

• I honestly chose to place myself into this class because I hope to spend as few semesters in school as possible and this class was required. When push comes to shove I have never failed at anything in my life and I know I can and will do well in this class. That is the honest reason I came to this class. If it where not required I would not have taken this class.

• The reason I placed my self in COM-111 is because I am capable of meeting all the guidelines of the course. Taking a more difficult course will make things more complicated for me and force me to put more effort into my studies.

• I placed myself into this class because I thought I was ready for this level.