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Florida’s Postsecondary Education Readiness Test. John Hughes and Matthew Schultz. College Placement Testing in Florida. Statutorily required placement testing Acceptable instruments defined in rule SAT, ACT, Accuplacer , and PERT
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Florida’s Postsecondary Education Readiness Test John Hughes and Matthew Schultz
College Placement Testing in Florida • Statutorily required placement testing • Acceptable instruments defined in rule • SAT, ACT, Accuplacer, and PERT • Students who do not meet the scores placed in developmental education • Required developmental education coursework must be completed before students may enroll in entry-level college credit courses 2
Faculty Involvement • Over 100 faculty from five school districts, two non-public colleges, nine universities and 24 colleges • Identified Florida’s Postsecondary Readiness Competencies • Prioritized the readiness competencies in terms of determining a student’s readiness for college-level coursework • Helped develop the PERT blueprints based on the prioritized list of readiness competencies • Reviewed test items to ensure they are aligned to the competencies and to ensure accuracy and clarity • Took the test “as a student” to ensure the test is functioning as expected 4
Postsecondary Readiness Competencies • PERT is aligned to Florida’s Postsecondary Readiness Competencies (PRCs) • PRCs in reading, writing and mathematics • Prioritized list of competencies for success in initial college credit courses • True assessment of what students need to know before enrolling in introductory courses • Follow up diagnostics that identify which competencies are not met for the purposes of remediation 5
Blueprint Development • Series of meetings with stake holders from department and colleges • PRC’s for each content area reviewed and prioritized by SME’s • Critical PRC’s identified and weighted • Blueprints developed to reflect most critical PRC’s for success
Test Design Process • PRC’s and Blueprints used to drive content development • College Faculty developed content exemplars • McCann developed item banks of content aligned specifically to PRC’s • College Faculty reviewed all content and approved alignment • DOE, Florida Colleges and McCann collaborated on pilot to test content
Test Development Process • Pilot included all colleges and most campuses • 900+ items administered to samples of student test takers • Online platform used to deliver content • Psychometric review of item performance • Item calibrations (3 parameter IRT) completed and CAT developed • PERT launched operationally Fall 2010 • Includes ongoing field testing of content
Diagnostic Competencies Diagnostic exams are available for students not meeting the cut-scores Lower and upper level in reading, writing and mathematics Based on statewide common course descriptions Prioritized list of competencies for success in given course No passing/failing score, just results by competency 9
PERT Components • PERT System Components • Placement Tests (3 sub-tests) • Identifies appropriate course placement (developmental education through college credit) • Reading • Writing • Mathematics • Diagnostic Tests • Lower and upper level for each subject • Based on separate competencies for exiting remedial courses 10
PERT Test Design • 30 questions per placement subtest • 25 operational items will be the basis of the student’s placement score • 5 field test items to continually enhance the operational test bank • Each test item is aligned with a PRC per the test blueprint • All items have been approved and aligned by Florida faculty 11
PERT Test Formats • PERT Placement is delivered using a CAT engine • Draws on item banks of 200+ items per content area • Item banks constantly being expanded • PERT Diagnostics are linear • Content delivered collaboratively between Florida College Faculty and McCann
PERT Interim Cut Score Setting Data • Pilot data • Data reflecting current student enrollment – first course, first year of enrollment • Data reflecting CPT/Accuplacer scores Target • Establish PERT cut scores/ranges that result in course placement comparable to current enrollment numbers • Two ranges for developmental education – lower and upper • One score for entry level college credit • Additional score for MAC 1105 College Algebra 16
Contact Information John Hughes Matthew Schultz Director Psychometric Services McCann Associates mschultz@mccanntesting.com Associate Vice Chancellor Division of Florida Colleges Florida Department of Education John.hughes@fldoe.org