The Assessment Center works diligently to ensure students receive quality information and assessment/placement services in a setting that is friendly and non-judgmental. The Assessment Center is responsible for establishing student basic skill placement levels in reading, English, math and English as a Second Language (ESL) through the administration of assessments w/multiple measures, evaluation of transcripts, test scores and degrees from other institutions. Testing accommodations are provided for students with disabilities and non-native speakers, including an English as a Second Language assessment for placement into ESL courses. Prerequisites for Reading, English, Math, Biology, Chemistry, Physics Economics, Real Estate and Accounting courses are communicated to students and staff and electronically enforced through the evaluation of transcripts from other colleges. Computerized placement files are maintained and linked to registration within Colleague. An interpretation of placement levels and course eligibility are provided to students as part of the College’s pre-enrollment activities. Statistical research data is generated and disseminated to instructional and Student Services staff for the purpose of monitoring the effectiveness of the College programs and curriculum planning. The Center adheres to the NCTA Professional Standards Guidelines and has achieved National College Testing Association’s (NCTA) Test Center Certification.
The Center administers over 4,500 placement tests per year at on and off campus (Chico and Glenn County Centers) sites. Expansion of the Reg2Go Program which involves administering the BSA on site for the participating high schools (currently 38 high schools), providing test accommodations for an increased number of students with special needs (e.g., students with disabilities, ESL students, and international students). The Center workload has expanded by the quantity of transcripts and test scores necesitating an evaluation by the Assessment Center (6,000 evaluations annually). Additionally, an evaluation of transcripts to clear prerequisites for Chemistry, Biology, Real Estate, Accounting and Economics are being conducted by the Assessment Center with other instructional departments seeking a comparable service starting in fall 2017.
COMPASS Test Units - Operating Costs. SSSP Funding
COMPASS test units were needed to administer ACT's COMPASS Assessments through November 2016.
Student Assistants - Personnel. SSSP Funding
Student assistants provided support to the overall operation of the Assessment Center. Student assistants administered assessment tests, provided customer service to students at the front counter and by phone and were instrumental in supporting new students as they navigate through the pre-enrollment requirements and register for classes.
Operating Budget - Operational Expenses. SSSP Funding
Operational budget provided needed supplies and resources to operate effectively.
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Intervention Development Summary. These are interventions that are planned for Spring 2017-Fall 2017 based on the SLO data collected in Sping 2016. 1) Implementation of Multiple Measures (MMAP) in the placement model. Starting in Spring 2017, high school transcript data will be used in conjunction with students’ assessment results to deliver a final placement. This will both improve the accuracy of students’ placement into Reading, English and Math courses and provide students with a better understanding of how their past academic performance impacts their final placement decision. 2) Implementation of the Common Assessment Initiative (CCCAssess) Starting in Fall 2017, the Common Assessment system will be implemented. This will provide students with more information about their competencies in Reading, English and Math along with a placement recommendation from their high school transcript information. Together, students will have a more comprehensive understanding of their skills and abilities. Additionally, the CCCAssess platform will be able to provide a placement recommendation immediately as well as provide counselors and faculty with reporting features to help them support students. 3) Math Collaborative Starting in Spring 2016, Butte College math faculty started collaborating with high school math faculty to help high school students better prepare for the assessment. In early spring 2016 and 2017 Butte College faculty and staff outreached with high school math faculty to provide information about the college’s placement process and to develop a process for providing assessment preparation to high school students prior to their assessment. This collaborative is intended to help faculty and students better understand the purpose of the assessment and how to better prepare to take the assessment. 4) Develop a Placement Tool for the website Through the Transformation Grant, Butte College will develop an online placement tool in 2017. This tool will be used by students to better understand the methods that are used to establish placement levels. This tool will be delivered online from the Assessment website. Students will use this tool to identify if they need to complete the assessment, how to prepare for the assessment and if they qualify for an exemption based on prior course work completed at another college.
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Course Success (Overall, Transfer, Basic Skills): The Assessment Office establishes placement in Reading, English, and Math and supports these departments by appropriately placing students into their curriculum and enforcing prerequisites. Additionally, the Assessment Office establishes basic skills placement levels for students to better understand how their skills relate to other courses they will be taking for GE and their major. The Assessment/placement of students is validated every six years to ensure that students are appropriately placed.
Persistence: The Assessment Office supports Focused Persistence by communicating course eligibility in Reading, English and Math and supporting students' understanding of prerequisites for specific disciplines.
Degrees: The Assessment Office communicates with students, staff and faculty regarding issues related to transfer requirements, associates degree requirements, and competency requirements.
Developmental Strand Completion: The Assessment Office communicates with faculty about students' placements so appropriate distribution of courses in each level can be scheduled around student demand. Additioanlly, Assessment coordinates the student prerequisite challenge process and supports students' ability to retest on the assessment to place higher.
- Collaboaring effectively with K12 to set appropriate expectations and align curriculum and prepare students for success: The Assessment Office works collaboratively with 38 local high schools to ensure that students prepare for the asssessment; adminsiter the assessment at the high school campus; and communicate assessment results prior to orientation.
- Place students effectively/appropriately, advise them, effectively and ensure student education plans: The Assessment Office strives to work closely with the LEAD, English and Math departments to develop a placement model (including multiple measures) that appropriately places students into their courses. This information is integrated into the orientation process so student are aware of their placement when they complete a student educational plan. Assessment staff also evaluate documents from other colleges to establish placement for students who are transfering to Butte College from another institution. Additionally, Butte College is a pilot school for field testing the Common Assessment (CCAssess) content assessments and technology platform and for the Multiple Measures Assessment Project (MMAP).
- Evaluate Standards and Goals of Course Success, Retention and Degree Achievement: The Assessment Office is committed to collaborating with IT, Research & Planning and academic departments to support the goals for course success, retention and degree achievement through prerequiste planning and placement reform.
- Improve Student Services for online & off campus sites: The Assessment Office supports online students by coordinating remote testing at other colleges for online students taking courses at Butte College. Additionally, Assessment staff administer the assessment (BSA) on a regular schedule at both the Chico and Glenn County Centers to support students taking courses at those locations.
- Implementing Degree Audit and Educational Planning Tools: The Assessment Office plays a kew role in the enforcement of the District's prerequisites. All prerequisites will need to be enforced at the time of registration for these planning tools to be effective for students transfering to Butte College from another institution. The Assessment Office coordinates the challenge process for students meeting the prerequiste at other institutions or through prior learning assessments.
- Improve access, success and completion of targeted student populations through the implementation of the Student Equity Plan: The Assessment Office is supporting the Multiple Measures Assessment Project (MMAP), intended to support more accurate placements and reduce disproportionate impact for the groups specified in the Student Equity Plan.
The following Program Review recommendations were made in 2010 related to the Assessment Office:
- It is recommended that the two Special Programs Clerks be converted from 60% to 100%: This was accomplished in fall 2015 through an augmentation from SSSP. These two 60% positions became 100% starting December 1, 2015.
- It is recommended that the Assessment Office team explore a contract with Chico State to hire interns for assistance in testing, proctoring, review and evaluation: Starting in 2013, the Assessment Office hired interns through CSU, Chico's Masters in Social Science program. These interns have been hired for the spring term to support Reg2Go testing at the high schools.
- It is recommended that the Assessment Team collaborate with other departments to evaluate transcripts to support the enforcement of other prerequisites: The Admissions and Records Office is in the planning stages to evaluate transripts to create equivalencies that can be utilized into Degree Audit and Student Educational Planning Tools. Assessment staff has been involved in the development of this process.
- It is recommended that additional laptops/netbooks be purchased for testing at remote locations: Microsoft Surface Pro 3s were orderred in December 2015 to replace the Dell netbooks.
1) Implement the Multiple Measures Assessment for Placement (MMAP) rules into the Placement Model using funding from the Transformation Grant.
2) Implement CCCAssess in Fall 2017.
3) Develop a new Assessment Printout by restructuring the XBSR.
4) Support the implementation of the District's Prerequisites.
5) Develop an Assessment Tool for the website using funding from the Transformation Grant.
6) Develop outreach and promotional materials for high school students to help them prepare for and understand the assessment.
7) Restructure Office staffing by developing updated Class Specs.
Strategy 1 - Implementation of the Common Assessment (CCCAssess)
Butte College is a pilot college for the Common Assessment Initiative (CAI). Throughout 2016-2017 a variety of test development processes and pilot testing will occur, with the beta release scheduled for fall of 2017. The pilot testing and test development stages will lead towards the adoption of the Common Assessment for Butte College by fall 2017.
During this time, the Assessment Center staff will provide input into the test development process, as well as technology platform to administer this new test - both computer and paper and pencil based testing. Placement methods will be developed utilizing multiple measures during spring and fall of 2017.
The Common Assessment Initiative (CAI) is a required component of the Student Success and Support Programs (SSSP) for state funding. The purpose of the CAI is to improve placement processes for new students, provide test portability between community colleges and reduce the costs for assessment testing throughout California Community Colleges. Since Butte College is a pilot school for the CAI, the district will be one of the 1st adopters of the new common assessment instruments and will play a critical role in the development of the test instruments and the technology interface.
Strategy 2 - Redesign the Assessment Printout
Improve the layout and accuracy of the customized assessment printout (XBSR). The XBSR (Basic Skills Report) will need to be reprogrammed to include the data from the new Common Assessment and multiple measures. New scoring logic and placement messages will need to be developed that are mapped to Butte College's curriculum based on the new placement methodology. Additionally, there is a desire to improve the portal's version of the assessment printout, which is based on the logic of the XBSR. The goal is to provide students more timely access to their placement results through MyBC and improve the interpretation materials so students can better understand their performance on the assessment or their placement by other methods.
The Assessment Basic Skills Report (XBSR) is the primary way for students to access and understand their placement results. This customized report includes initial placement information (e.g., score, course eligibility, test date) and gets updated as students complete coursework in English, Math and Reading. The goal is to ensure this report's accuracy and provide multiple ways to deliver this report through the Assessment Center and electronically through MyBC.
Strategy 3 - Develop an online Assessment Tool
Using funding from the Transformation Grant, an online Assessment Tool will be developed to assist students with establishing placement and better understanding their course eligibility. This online tool will provide information to students about exemptions to testing and how their placements are determined. In addition, the development of this tool will necessitate a partial redesign of the Assessment website to provide students information about assessment preparation and how to access their results in a timely manner.
There is a growing need to provide new students with meaningful information about both the purpose of the assessment and study materials so students are better prepared for the BSA. With the implementation of the Common Assessment system and use of high school transcript data, the College has an opportunity to develop a better tool to support students' experience with the Assessment Office. This tool will provide students with an interactive method for how the assessment process works at the College how their placements are determined.
Strategy 4 - Support the Implementation of Additional Prerequisites
Currently, the College enforces prerequisites (at the time of registration) for Reading, English, Math and some Biology and Chemistry courses. Additional prerequistes are scheduled to have similar enforcement processes for Fall 2017. Assessment staff will continue to evaluate unofficial documents for either course substitutions and/or challenges, as well as conduct the disenrollment processes for the College. This will result in an increase in the overall evaluation of documents to meet prerequisites and greater coordination with faculty, Admissions and Records and Counseling to ensure that the enforcement of prerequisites is being done in a fair and consistent manner.
The District has a desire to enforce all prerequistes that are established through the Curriculum Committee process. Currently, the Assessment Center evaluates documents and coordinates with students and counselors to communicate appropriate prerequisites for identified courses. Enforcing additional prerequisites for Fall 2017 will increase the overall volume of documents necessiting an evaluation and increase the collaboration with faculty to coordinate prerequisite substitutions and challenges.
Strategy 5 - Automate the Integration Multiple Measures into Assessment
Butte College is a pilot college for the Multiple Measures Assessment Project (MMAP). The goal of this project is to identify and validate multiple measures that can be integrated with CCCAssess to better place students into the Reading, English and Math curriculum. The College adopted the use of the MMAP rule sets for use in Spring 2017. The next step is to automate this process during the implementation of CCCAssess.
There is significant research that suggests that the integration of an assessment with validated multiple measures can dramatically improve the placement of students into Reading, English and Math curriculum. Using a student's high school performance (e.g., GPA, grade in last English and Math course) can both improve placement outcomes, create more equitable placement models and can reduce disproportionate impact for groups identified by the Student Equity Plan.
Strategy 6 - Develop Promotional Materials
During 2016-2017, the Assessment Office will support a variety of statewide and District goals including the Common Assessment (CCCAssess), Multiple Measures (MMAP), enforcement of prerequisites, and outreach to high schools. The Assessment Office intends to develop materials for outreach and promotion and to inform students about these processes. This will require Assessment to contract with an outside agency to develop these materials.
The implementation of the Common Assessment (CCCAssess), the Multiple Measures Assessment Project, prerequisites and high school outreach are critical parts of the Strategic Direction and have significant impact on SSSP and Student Equity goals.
Strategy 7 - Staff Development
Staff Development is essential to effectively implementing these goals. The goal is to have Assessment Staff attand statewide conferences and professional development trainings related to CCCAssess and Multiple Measures, in addition to the National College Testing Association (NCTA) national conference.
Staff development is critical to supporting staff in their implementation of best practices. These activities allow staff to improve services to students and support District and statewide outcomes.
Strategy 8 - Update Staff Class Specs
Using current and future vacancies, update Class Specs to more accurately describe the essential duties and skills needed for the positions in Assessment and the Regional Testing Center.
The follwoing non-financial resources are being requested:
$366,530 - District
$138,000 - Categorical (SSSP) (Classified Assessment Technician), Student Assistants, Operational Budget)
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | Assessment | Operating Expenses | 12-262-709-709-1-632001 | 54511 | $10,000.00 | $0.00 |
| COMPASS Test Units | Costs for the use of ACCUPLACER test units is based on the number of units administered in one year or until the Common Assessment is available for use in Fall 2017. |
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| 2 | Assessment | Personnel | 12.262.709.1.632001 | 52368 | $50,000.00 | $0.00 |
| 5 Student Assistants | To provide customer service and test proctoring support during the fall, spring and summer periods. |
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| 3 | Operating Expenses | Operating Expenses | 12.262.709.1.632001 | 54500 | $0.00 | $10,000.00 |
| Operating budget for copying, office materials and supplies. |
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| 4 | Assessment | Personnel | 12-262-701-1-620002 | 52390 | $6,000.00 | $0.00 |
| Seasonal Proctors for Reg2Go | Seasonal test proctors are needed from January-May to support the assessment activities for Reg2Go. This includes traveling out to the 38 high schools to assess new students, collect exemption and multiple measure documentation and support new students as they go participate in the Reg2Go program. |
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| 5 | Assessment | Personnel | 11-000-709-1-632001 | 52190 | $0.00 | $10,400.00 |
| Reclassification/Restructure of 2 100% and 1 50% Special Programs Clerks (Range 18) to Assessment/Testing Specialists (Range 24) | Currently the Assessment Office has 1 x 100% Special Programs Clerk (Range 18A) funded 60% by the District and 40% by SSSP and 1 x 50% Special Programs Clerk (Range 18A) funded by the District. Additionally, the Regional Testing Center has 1 x 100% Special Programs Clerk funded 60% by the District and 40% by SSSP. A Desk Audit occured for these positions in early November 2016. To provide a more accurate description of job duties and skills, a new Class Spec is being developed. This Reclassification is necessary to support the evaluation of transcripts for prerequisite implementation and to more accurately reflect the level of skills and abilities needed to support the Assessment and Regional Testing Center testing services. Based on this funding model, $7600 (60%) would come from a District augmentation and $2800 would come from the SSSP augmentation. |
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| 6 | Assessment | Operating Expenses | 12.262.709.1.632001 | 55200 | $6,000.00 | $0.00 |
| Professional Development, travel and conference | This augmentation will provide staff an opportunity to attend the NCTA National Conference and the CCCAA statewide conference. Additionally, these funds will support travel costs that support services at the Glenn County Center and Chico Center locations and other off campus locations. |
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| 7 | Assessment | Equipment | 12-239-709-1-632001 | 56411 | $6,000.00 | $0.00 |
| Power Packs Chargers for the Microsoft Surface Pros | Assessment uses 64 Microsoft Surface Pros for testing at remote locations. The chargers could be used to charge the batteries while away from campus. Currently staff has to bring back the Surface Pros every day to recharge them for use the next day. |
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| 8 | Assessment | Equipment | $3,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Front Counter separations & Kiosk | Currently the Assessment front counter is an open space with a lot of distractions for students when they come into the office with questions. This project would add two kiosks for students to use to log into computers to self serve and/or complete career assessments, in addition to providing separation panels at the front counter to better manage services. The goal is to provide students with an opportunity to both self serve and complete career assessments and to provide students and staff with more organized and private communications. |
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| 9 | Assessment Office | Equipment | 12-239-709-1-632001 | 56411 | $6,000.00 | $0.00 |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 & Docking Stations | Microsoft Surface Pros will be used by staff at remote locations to access Colleague, SARS, Outlook, etc. Staff can then use the docking stations and Microsoft Surface Pros as their primary computer workstation in the main office. This provides staff an opportunity to work from a variety of locations and to support students at off campus locations including local high schools. |
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