I. Agency Description
Porterville College is located at 100 East College Avenue, Porterville, California,
at the base of the scenic High Sierra Mountain Range in Southeastern
Tulare County. The population
of the Porterville urban area is approximately 40,000 persons
and that of the surrounding service area is 90,000 persons. Porterville College is the northernmost college in the Kern Community College District, which serves an area
of some 24,000 square miles in all or portions of Kern, Tulare, Inyo, and San Bernardino Counties. Other colleges in
the district are Bakersfield College in
Bakersfield and Cerro Coso Community College in
Ridgecrest.
II.
Evaluation Project
The evaluation project of the Matriculation Department at Porterville
College will illustrate the effectiveness of the program, as well as which services in the matriculation assessment process
are most appreciated and what is most necessary. The Matriculation process is
an integral process for new students at Porterville College.
Matriculation consists of four aspects; assessment or placement testing,
orientation, advising, and finally registration. Students are recommended to
complete the matriculation process for several reasons. First, by completing
the process the student is entitled to priority registration for future terms and secondly, many courses have prerequisites
that must be met prior to enrollment that the assessment test may satisfy.
Porterville College previously employed
an Assessment Testing Technician who was responsible for all assessment testing, scoring, and scheduling. That position was vacated in April of 2005 and will not be replaced.
The decision was made to no longer employ a testing technician as a result of budgetary constraints. Currently and in the future the responsibility will lay with the counselors. Counselors must share the responsibility and alternate testing dates.
It is undetermined who will be responsible for scheduling and scoring at this time.
Presently these tasks have been absorbed by another position; however the California State Employees Association (CSEA)
will no longer allow these duties to be absorbed by another position since the duties must be specific in the job description.
Porterville College must determine
the effectiveness, as well as the future of assessment testing. There is a shortage
of staff to accommodate the testing procedure, however many students must rely on the scores from the test to satisfy certain
prerequisites to many courses.
Assessment test scores are utilized by counselors when placing a student
into general education courses such as mathematics and English. The English scores
are divided into four levels, with level one being the highest. A student who
scores a level one on the reading and writing portion of the assessment test may take any English course that they wish. However students who score in the level two through four ranges must adhere to prerequisites.
Mathematics scores are divided into three levels; level two, level three,
and level four. Students scoring into the highest level, level two, must still
adhere to prerequisites, unless they can provide a transcript of previous course work that satisfies the prerequisites. Hence, the numerical portion of the assessment test is only one modality when qualifying
students to take various levels of mathematics courses.
Counselors consider a student’s assessment scores while interviewing
new students as a method to assist in properly placing students into coursework. An
interview with a student often illustrates how well they will do in various courses.
In conjunction with the assessment scores and interviews, counselors
utilize transcripts from previous education when placing students into courses. A
second modality assists to insure that the student is placed in the proper level of coursework.
The final method counselors can utilize to place students into the proper
courses is to contact their previous advisor, for example their high school guidance counselor. The guidance counselor often can provide information that may assist in the placement of coursework.
III.
Methods
To determine the feeling of how effective Porterville College’s Assessment testing
is for students, and how well received it is with instructors, interviews were conducted with one administrator, two faculty
members, three counselors, and three classified employees (who work with student registration). In addition, three students who are officers with the Associated Students of Porterville College (ASPC)
also participated to provide a student’s view. Interviews opened the door
to recreate through innovation the entire assessment process.
In addition to interviews current data offered by Moorpark College has been reviewed and included
in the evaluation. Moorpark College is one of two community colleges located in California
currently utilizing an alternative matriculation process. Moorpark College offers students an online
“Self-Placement” assessment test.
IV.
Findings and Analysis
The first tool in the evaluation process, the interviews, offers a strong
suggestion that the current assessment testing process in ineffective for several reasons, yet an assessment test is imperative
for new college students. The simple need for the assessment test to determine
at what level to place students has been a prime factor for its continued existence.
New students take the test and score within a certain level allowing counselors to advise which courses should be of
focus. Any student who understood the scores could place themselves if they chose
not to see a counselor, since the students are given a copy of their scores when they attend the orientation.
The interviews illustrated negative feedback regarding the assessment
testing process and offered a strong suggestion that it is highly ineffective in its current state. Students argue that they prepare for college level courses in high school, and as such should not have
to complete an assessment test. However counselors refute that many high school
graduates are below college level coursework, and often require remedial courses to raise their skills prior to entering into
a college level transferable course. The counselors and faculty contend that
the test scores illustrate the student’s readiness to complete certain levels of college material. The faculty strongly agrees that some form of placement testing must occur for the new college student to
prevent substandard grades.
The existing data from Moorpark and their online self-placement defends
the notion that a student has the right to fail. Therefore they offer the online
placement testing so that a student may assess their own skill level through “Self-Placement”. They believe that, “timed tests don’t really show actual abilities in writing, reading, and
thinking” (English Self-Placement Guide).
They ask each student to assess their own strengths and weaknesses in English and mathematics. For example, the English guide takes the student through four steps that give a clearer picture of reading
and writing abilities, as well as work habits. The main goal of the self-placement
is to allow students to use the guide to choose their own classes, giving them independence and the right to choose their
own coursework, and again the right to fail.
The faculty is apprehensive about the online self-placement and feels
that students must be forced into certain levels of coursework through test scores.
Their concern is that they may expend more time with a student who may perform better at a lower level distracting
from those who are appropriately placed into a course. Again, Moorpark’s
data reinforces the student’s right to fail. In addition the faculty at
Porterville College
expressed, “a lack of confidence in our population being able to place themselves” and that, “Moorpark is
too different from PC… that our students have an unrealistic view of their abilities” (Porterville College Matriculation
Advisory Committee Minutes, April 14, 2005).
Moorpark’s data is a strong rebuttal to the faculty concerns in
that their success rate over the past three years utilizing online self-placement. The
students successfully completing English and math coursework has increased since the implementation of self-placement, boasted
a representative from Moorpark College.
The main differences between Moorpark’s placement testing as opposed
to Porterville College’s
placement testing is that PC has four levels of placement, whereas Moorpark has three.
In addition, their demographics are much different than Tulare
County. Their student population
is primarily middle class high school seniors, whereas Porterville
College is primarily lower class re-entry students (Porterville College
Matriculation Advisory Committee Minutes, April 14, 2005).
V.
Recommendations
VI.
Appendix A
Carrie Stinson
ADM 603 Program Evaluation
Cell: 559-359-0766
Fax: 559-791-2442
Porterville, CA
93257
cstinson@pc.cc.ca.us
TO: Mercedes Herrera – Matriculation, Porterville
College
FROM: Carrie Stinson
DATE: July 5, 2005
RE: Memo of Agreement on Program Evaluation of the Matriculation Department
Thank you for the opportunity
to serve you as a program evaluator of the Matriculation Program at Porterville
College. More specifically,
I will focus on the Assessment Testing process.
We have agreed that I will contribute
each day to the completion of a program evaluation for Matriculation. The evaluation
will be complete no later than August 15, 2005 and will be performed on campus located at 100 E College Avenue, in Porterville,
CA.
We have agreed that I will provide
this service at no charge to the organization and that the information gathered through this evaluation will be relinquished
to the Matriculation program at Porterville College,
with an additional copy reserved for my instructor, BJ Moore at California State University, Bakersfield.
I'll provide my own office equipment
(including phone, computer, copier, and fax) and vehicle. All copying expenses
will be absorbed by the department as previously agreed upon. I will be considered
as a consultant as opposed to employee, during the time frame each day that I work on the program evaluation.
I appreciate the opportunity
to work with your program on this project, as well as gain experience to contribute to my portfolio. By signing below you are acknowledging acceptance for the completion of a project program evaluation of
the Matriculation Program. A copy of this agreement will be left for you, a copy
will be retained by me, and a copy will be forwarded to my instructor.
________________________________________________
(Director’s Signature)
(date)
_______________________________________________
Carrie Stinson (date)
Budget Narrative – Introduction
The
Porterville College Student Services serves approximately 4000 students with five
fulltime counselors directly located in Student Services (AC-126) and ten faculty advisors (for specific majors). The budget reflects the costs incurred to evaluate the matriculation process as part of the student services. The matriculation process does not involve the faculty advisors; therefore those certificated
employees will not be included in this study. Total expenses of the Matriculation
process as a part of Student Services evaluation will be $4,000. Line item justification is as follows:
Consultation Fee:
Program Manager and Evaluator: BJ Moore, professor and consultant at California State
University Bakersfield, is responsible for the program oversight. Carrie Stinson, program evaluator, is responsible for the necessary research, complete written
summary, and is the main contact for this evaluation. The evaluation will require
a minimum of twenty-four (24) hours. Twenty hours will be at the rate of $50 per hour, and four hours will be at the rate
of $750 per hour.
Total Consultation Fees: $4,000
Stationary/Faxes/Copies
It
has been agreed and included in the MOA that Porterville College will supply all necessary supplies and services pertaining to copies, faxes,
and stationary.
Mileage
Travel
to and from Porterville College
will be included in consultation fees. No additional costs will be incurred.
Total Direct Charges: $16,000
