New math placement test aims to improve student success
January 27, 2014
It’s no secret that many students struggle with their introductory mathematics courses
at UAF. As part of an effort to improve student success rates in these courses, the
Faculty Senate last fall approved changes to how the university places students and
the courses that depend on mathematics placement. The system we will use is called ALEKS PPL. Students who plan to take a mathematics course, or a course that requires mathematics placement (such as a chemistry), will need to take the UAF Mathematics Placement Test. The test costs $25, but it comes with advantages we didn’t have with our previous math placement process.
It’s convenient. The test can be taken from almost any computer with internet access;
It’s low stakes. There are no proctors and is effectively no time pressure. It can be retaken up to five times.
It’s adaptive. Students are asked more- or less-advanced questions based on how well they answered earlier questions. In this way, the test narrows in on a student's skill level. This process usually takes between 45 and 60 minutes.
It gives students and teachers more useful information. Instead of just getting a single score, ALEKS PPL gives a pie chart at the end displaying information about how well the student did in different topic areas. Students can use this to identify areas they may want to review before taking their first math course or to brush up on before doing a second placement attempt.
It includes tools for students to improve. There is a learning module, which can be accessed right from that pie chart. If a student needs to brush up on fractions or trigonometric identities, they simply select the corresponding piece of the pie chart to proceed to practice problems and tutorials.
We’d like to encourage students to take advantage of the learning module. Other universities that have used ALEKS PPL have seen significant improvements in student success rates in their first mathematics courses due to better diagnostics. Improvements were significantly higher for students who had taken advantage of the learning modules.
The new placement system will be available March 1. Students should take the placement, and then spend some time working with the learning modules to practice their skills. This either will place the students in higher courses to begin with, or will help them do better in the courses in which they were initially placed. After working with the modules, students are encouraged to take the placement test again before enrolling. Students who do these steps could
Members of our faculty committee, who researched this placement tool, believe students should be given the best possible information about what course best fits their skill level. Students placed into a course beyond their abilities will find the material too difficult. Perhaps surprisingly, students who take a course that isn't challenging enough often disregard assignments as busy work, and missed work leads to poor grades. Either outcome is a waste of a student's time, energy and money. So we began looking for, and believe we have found, a system to help a student end up in the course that’s just right.