Student Assessment and Placement Systems: Initial Outcomes From an RCT

This forum was divided into three parts:

1. First, presenters explained why there is a need to change assessment and placement practices, shared information on their approach to developing and testing an alternative strategy based on data analytics, and reported initial results from a randomized control trial testing this alternative mechanism against colleges’ prior test-based systems at participating SUNY community colleges.
2. Second, presenters had participants engage in—and discuss—a short self-assessment of the conditions at their college that would support or hinder implementation of an alternative assessment and placement system.
3. Third, representatives of two colleges discussed the way their institutions arrived at a decision to participate in this project as well as their initial impressions of how the new assessment and placement system has been experienced by college personnel and students.