Student Transcript-Enhanced Placement Study (STEPS). Technical Report
Author: Willett, Terrence
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Transcripts (Written Records),Student Records,Academic Records,High School Students,Student Placement,Two Year College Students,Community Colleges,Partnerships in Education,Regression (Statistics),English Instruction,Mathematics Instruction,Grade Point Average,Correlation,Academic Achievement,Standardized Tests,Scores,Predictor Variables,Barriers,Costs,Alignment (Education)

Prior research suggests that using high school transcripts may improve English and math placement accuracy at colleges. Between 2012 and 2013, the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) conducted the Student Transcript Enhanced Placement Study (STEPS) in partnership with the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO). Eleven California community colleges implemented a statewide pilot using a Microsoft Access module and statistical scripts created by Long Beach City College (LBCC) researchers to manage and analyze California Partnership for Achieving Student Success (Cal-PASS) data. Researchers conducted multivariate regressions on high school and community college transcript level data including recent California Standardized Test (CST) scores; level of and grade in most recent high school English and/or math course; overall grade point average (GPA), excluding English and/or math. The analysis focused on 1) the relationship between students' high school English and/or math performance measures, the level of their first English and/or math course attempted at the community college and their success in that course. Colleges found a) CST scores had a positive association with proxies of college placement test scores, b) the more high school college preparatory &quot;A-G&quot; courses for UC/CSU eligibility students completed, the more likely they were to attempt a higher level English course in college, c) students completing a higher level of math were more likely to take a higher level math course in college on average (although the relationship was weak compared to what might be expected from a well-articulated pathway between K-12 and college), d) high school GPA (excluding the subject being predicted) associated most strongly with college grades for English and math, and e) the predictive strength of high school GPA on college math grades had more variation among colleges as compared to college English grades. The STEPS project successfully showed that high school transcript data can improve the predictive ability of California community college placement systems using data shared among K-12 and community colleges. Further, providing centralized technical assistance for local research offices can contribute to system improvements in student placement. This project subsequently lead to the Multiple Measures Assessment Project (MMAP) with a new set of analytical approaches and technical assistance resources: http://rpgroup.org/All-Projects/ctl/ArticleView/mid/1686/articleId/118/Multiple-Measures-Assessment-Project-MMAP Additional materials: 3 tables, 4 charts, 15 references. [In-kind assistance for this project was provided by the California Partnership for Achieving Student Success (Cal-PASS) and the California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO).]