Advisement
Built into the Online DSP
Once
students finished the online DSP survey, I had access to it and read their
responses, including their essay, which I scored on a 1-6 scale. If my reading
of their survey corresponded with their reading, which happened about 60
percent of the time, I simply placed them in their chosen course. Put another
way, if I thought their profile did not match the course profile, I wrote a
slightly personalized e-mail, providing some feedback, explaining my thinking,
and requesting a phone conversation. The conversation might begin with my
asking the student if she had any thoughts about the e-mail she received from
me. The response might be anything from “I didn’t think I had to take the
survey that seriously” to “I think you’re right; I’m not that strong in
English” to “I just think I’m ready for College English.” If her essay was
particularly weak and she had admitted spending little time on it, I might ask
her if she would consider writing the essay over again. If she spent a good
chunk of time and tried her best, and she received high grades in her high
school English classes, I might ask her about the kinds of papers she wrote. I
might ask her to think about how she works under conditions when she does not
quickly succeed. If it is a typical conversation, a decision emerges in a way
that seems neither coerced nor permissive. However, I may have to remind her
that, no matter what I say, ultimately she gets to make the decision since she
knows herself better than I do. Sometimes I encourage the student to go back to
the website to look over the course description and sample B paper, to talk
with her parents and e-mail me in the next day or two. Often, in such cases,
it’s clear that the student is taking the placement process quite seriously.
Of
course, this process takes time. However, it does not take significantly more
time or money than the traditional forms of testing. I estimated about 14
minutes per student, including reading the survey, making phone calls, keeping
a database, and actually placing the students. The cost of placing the entire
freshman class of about 1200 students (minus about 600 placed through verbal