What is the Placement Test Re-Take Policy?
City College of San Francisco is instituting a policy that allows students to re-take the English and math placement tests after two weeks if they feel that they scored below their level ability. The previous policy required students to wait three months to re-take a placement test. The purpose of this policy is to allow more students to re-test before starting at City College.
To enroll at City College, students must take a placement test to help determine which level of English and Math classes they may start from. Regardless of their score, students may enroll at City College. Doing well on the test may save a student money and time since they would not have to take additional remedial courses that do not earn college-level credit. If students score low on the placement test, they are placed in remedial courses. Some students have to take several semesters of remedial courses before they are eligible to take college-level courses that earn credit toward their completion goals.
This new policy could help many students who did not perform well their initial placement test: re-taking the test and potentially placing into a higher level math or English course would enable greater progress towards completing a degree.
In addition to the pilot policy change, Bridge to Success is working on efforts to ensure SFUSD students understand the importance of the placement tests and are prepared for them. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some SFUSD students may not have understood the importance of this test, which may have resulted in them not performing to the best of their abilities. Through Bridge to Success, City College and SFUSD counselors have been trained on the importance of the placement tests and outreach materials for students are in development.
What has been the Impact of the Pilot?
The pilot placement test re-take policy has yielded data that suggests that some students who retake the test, without any tutoring or intervention, improve their scores. Further analysis is underway.