One System…One Mission

Florida’s Postsecondary Education Readiness TestJohn Hughes and Matthew Schultz

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College Placement Testing in Florida Statutorily required placement testing Acceptable instruments defined in rule

SAT, ACT, Accuplacer, and PERT Students who do not meet the scores

placed in developmental education Required developmental education

coursework must be completed before students may enroll in entry-level college credit courses

From Accuplacer to PERTAmerican Diploma Project

Readiness Competencies

Contract Expiration

Faculty Involvement

McCann’s Customized Solution

Florida’s postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT)

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Faculty Involvement Over 100 faculty from five school districts, two

non-public colleges, nine universities and 24 colleges

Identified Florida’s Postsecondary Readiness Competencies

Prioritized the readiness competencies in terms of determining a student’s readiness for college-level coursework

Helped develop the PERT blueprints based on the prioritized list of readiness competencies

Reviewed test items to ensure they are aligned to the competencies and to ensure accuracy and clarity

Took the test “as a student” to ensure the test is functioning as expected

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Postsecondary Readiness Competencies PERT is aligned to Florida’s

Postsecondary Readiness Competencies (PRCs) PRCs in reading, writing and mathematics Prioritized list of competencies for success

in initial college credit courses True assessment of what students need to

know before enrolling in introductory courses

Follow up diagnostics that identify which competencies are not met for the purposes of remediation

Blueprint Development

Series of meetings with stake holders from department and colleges

PRC’s for each content area reviewed and prioritized by SME’s

Critical PRC’s identified and weighted Blueprints developed to reflect most

critical PRC’s for success

Test Design Process

PRC’s and Blueprints used to drive content development

College Faculty developed content exemplars

McCann developed item banks of content aligned specifically to PRC’s

College Faculty reviewed all content and approved alignment

DOE, Florida Colleges and McCann collaborated on pilot to test content

Test Development Process

Pilot included all colleges and most campuses

900+ items administered to samples of student test takers

Online platform used to deliver content Psychometric review of item

performance Item calibrations (3 parameter IRT)

completed and CAT developed PERT launched operationally Fall 2010

Includes ongoing field testing of content

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Diagnostic Competencies Diagnostic exams are available for

students not meeting the cut-scores Lower and upper level in reading, writing

and mathematics Based on statewide common course

descriptions Prioritized list of competencies for success

in given course No passing/failing score, just results by

competency

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PERT Components

PERT System Components Placement Tests (3 sub-tests)

Identifies appropriate course placement (developmental education through college credit) Reading Writing Mathematics

Diagnostic Tests Lower and upper level for each subject Based on separate competencies for exiting

remedial courses

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PERT Test Design

30 questions per placement subtest 25 operational items will be the basis of the

student’s placement score 5 field test items to continually enhance the

operational test bank Each test item is aligned with a PRC

per the test blueprint All items have been approved and

aligned by Florida faculty

PERT Test Formats

PERT Placement is delivered using a CAT engine Draws on item banks of 200+ items per

content area Item banks constantly being expanded

PERT Diagnostics are linear Content delivered collaboratively between

Florida College Faculty and McCann

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PERT Interim Cut Score SettingData Pilot data Data reflecting current student enrollment – first

course, first year of enrollment Data reflecting CPT/Accuplacer scoresTarget Establish PERT cut scores/ranges that result in

course placement comparable to current enrollment numbers Two ranges for developmental education –

lower and upper One score for entry level college credit Additional score for MAC 1105 College

Algebra

Cut Scores and Expected PlacementMath Placement Level 3-Year Average Percent of

StudentsCut Score Range

Expected Percent at Placement

Advanced Math 0.5% NA -College Algebra or Equiv 6.1% 123-150 7.1%Intermediate Algebra 13.9% 113-122 14.1%Upper Level Dev Ed 40.6% 96-112 41.9%Lower Level Dev Ed 38.9% 50-95 36.9%

Reading Placement Level 3-Year Average Percent of Students

Cut Score Range

Expected Percent at Placement

College Ready (ENC 1101) 40.5% 104-150 42.0%

Upper Level Dev Ed 46.3% 84-103 45.1%

Lower Level Dev Ed 13.2% 50-83 12.9%

Writing Placement Level 3-Year Average Percent of Students

Cut Score Range

Expected Percent at Placement

College Ready (ENC 1101) 54.9% 99-150 55.3%Upper Level Dev Ed 20.4% 90-98 21.5%Lower Level Dev Ed 24.7% 50-89 23.2%

Contact Information

John Hughes

Associate Vice ChancellorDivision of Florida

CollegesFlorida Department of

EducationJohn.hughes@fldoe.org

Matthew Schultz

Director Psychometric Services

McCann Associates

mschultz@mccanntesting.com