T H E C L A C K A M A S P R IN T
| JA N . 28, 2015
I V O L . 48 IS S U E 10
3
You shall not PASS
Story by Maddy Kays
n the past year, two teachers at Clackamas Community College
I
have launched Placement Advising for Student Success, or PASS.
This program, unique to CCC, is focused on helping to improve
placem ent o f students into their early w riting and math classes
David Mount from the English department and Carrie Kyser o f the
math department joined together to create PASS and will meet one-on-one with
students. For many students, PASS is not an alternative to taking the placement
test.
“I can’t say vehemently enough how horrible the placement test is,” said
Kyser. “I was taking it earlier today, and the math test begins you with the
material that’s in our Math 20 course and you don’t get into the algebra part
unless you get through that part, and it’s really hard. Story problems that go on
forever. It’s no wonder everyone gets placed into Math 20.”
The tests, while free for students, aren’t free for the school. In fact, starting
next year the better you do on the tests, the further you get into the test, the
more it costs the school and the longer it will take you to complete. Prices will
go up next year.
Kyser and Mount hope to make the college entrance exam process easier.
You can make an appointment with either Kyser or Mount individually or
you can see them both at
the same time. You can
see them before or after
you’ve taken the place
ment test.
“Currently it’s, ‘Park
your bag and have a seat.’
Next year it’s going to be
more, ‘What’s your back
ground, where should we
begin you?” ’ said Kyser.
Mount said statistics
show that the lower stu
dents are placed, the more
likely they are to drop out
“We see a lot o f peo
ple who have taken the
test,” added Mount. “In
the research on the sub
ject, they use the meta
phor of the leaky pipeline.
Carrie Kyser, left, math department chair, and David
Mount, English instructor, meet with students to talk
about placement in math and English classes.
at CCC.
"I can't say vehemently
enough how horrible
the placement test is."
There’s a pipeline that gets you through the skills classes up through college
but what the research finds out is that there are holes in it.”
Students on campus agree that die tests are faulty.
“I got placed in Math 20 even though I was taking Algebra II at my higl
school,” said student Kennedy Huggett. “I took Math 95 instead and it wai
really easy. It feels like the way that the test works is that if you get a problen
wrong, it gives up on you.”
If you want a second opinion on where you were placed, make an appoint
ment in the testing center with Kyser or Mount, drop by during their office
hours or email at pass@clackamas.edu.
The testing center is located in Roger Rook 140.