Research in the Teaching of English Feb 2012

Placement of Students into First-Year Writing Courses

Norbert Elliot New Jersey Institute of Technology ; Perry Deess New Jersey Institute of Technology ; Alex Rudniy New Jersey Institute of Technology ; Kamal Joshi New Jersey Institute of Technology

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to examine concurrent and predictive evidence used in the validation of ACCUPLACER, a purchased test used to place first-year students into writing courses at an urban, public research university devoted to science and technology education. Concurrent evidence was determined by correlations between ACCUPLACER scores and scores on two other tests designed to measure writing ability: the New Jersey Basic Skills Placement Test and the SAT Writing Section. Predictive evidence was determined by coefficients of determination between ACCUPLACER scores and end-of-semester performance measures. A longitudinal study was also conducted to investigate the grade history of students placed into first-year writing by established and new methods. When analyzed in terms of gender and ethnicity impact, ACCUPLACER failed to achieve statistically significant prediction rates for student performance. The study reveals some limits of placement testing and the problems related to it.

Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Published
2012-02-01
DOI
10.58680/rte201218457
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
first-year composition writing pedagogy assessment empirical research race and writing gender and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (10)

  1. Yu et al. (2025)
    Predictive validity evidence for a no-stakes, untimed, machine-scored diagnosti…
    Assessing Writing
  2. Sullivan et al. (2023)
    Feature: National Report on Developmental Education: Corequisite Reform Is Working
    Teaching English in the Two-Year College
  3. Tinkle et al. (2022)
    (In)Equities in directed self-placement
    Assessing Writing
  4. Aull (2021)
    Directed Self-Placement: Subconstructs and group differences at a U.S. university
    Assessing Writing
  5. Moos et al. (2019)
    Directed self-placement as a tool to foreground student agency
    Assessing Writing
Show all 10 →
  1. Aull (2019)
    Writing placement tools: Constructing and understanding students’ transition in…
    Assessing Writing
  2. Aull (2019)
    Writing placement tools: Constructing and understanding students’ transition in…
    Assessing Writing
  3. Hughes et al. (2019)
    Affordances and limitations of the ACCUPLACER automated writing placement tool
    Assessing Writing
  4. Ramineni (2013)
    Validating automated essay scoring for online writing placement
    Assessing Writing
  5. Klobucar et al. (2013)
    Automated scoring in context: Rapid assessment for placed students
    Assessing Writing

References (0)

No references on file for this article.

CrossRef global citation count: 16 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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